With Australian Survivor just hitting the screens the same motto applies: "Outwit - Outplay - Outlast". I'm actually amazed some companies still offer Survivor as a corporate team building activity. In a perfect world, executives would study why people win Survivor and do exactly the opposite. Survivor is a text book example of why teams fail. And let's be realistic about Survivor, the teams (tribes) aren't teams at all, despite all the faux goodwill at the start of the game. The players are just a collection of individuals forced to live in close proximity, all with different objectives. [list type="check"] there's no common goal no trust alliances and cliques form and crumble in record time information is withheld lying to each other is routine most players leave the game in a humiliating way and short term self interest trumps everything. [/list] Why anyone thinks Survivor is a good reality TV show to base a team building activity on is a mystery to me. If you ran your office like Survivor, after 55 days "in camp" you'd have 24 people who pretty much hated each other, your place of work would be a filthy mess because nobody works for the common good, and very little would be achieved. Survivor, great for TV, lousy for team building.
With Australian Survivor just hitting the screens the same motto applies:
“Outwit – Outplay – Outlast”.
I’m actually amazed some companies still offer Survivor as a corporate team building activity. In a perfect world, executives would study why people win Survivor and do exactly the opposite.
Survivor is a text book example of why teams fail. And let’s be realistic about Survivor, the teams (tribes) aren’t teams at all, despite all the faux goodwill at the start of the game. The players are just a collection of individuals forced to live in close proximity, all with different objectives.
[list type=”check”]
- there’s no common goal
- no trust
- alliances and cliques form and crumble in record time
- information is withheld
- lying to each other is routine
- most players leave the game in a humiliating way
- and short term self interest trumps everything.
[/list]
Why anyone thinks Survivor is a good reality TV show to base a team building activity on is a mystery to me.
If you ran your office like Survivor, after 55 days “in camp” you’d have 24 people who pretty much hated each other, your place of work would be a filthy mess because nobody works for the common good, and very little would be achieved.
Survivor, great for TV, lousy for team building.
