FORGET reality TV shows like Survivor; the workplace is one of the best training grounds for you to learn and display your survival skills as it will present you with some of your greatest battles and life lessons. If you can fight workplace battles and win, you can win on any other battleground, for the skills you acquire will help you in other areas of your life.

Full of interesting characters and unnecessary battles, surviving the workplace is like a game of chess for any career-driven person. The key to survival is to understand the culture of the organisation, identify the key characters quickly, and employ the tactics necessary to survive in that environment.

Having had my own experience with workplace battles, here are 12 key things to note if you are to survive workplace challenges.

1. Be courteous and respectful to all persons regardless of rank

One of the easiest ways to become a target or to set yourself up for failure in the workplace is to adopt a condescending attitude toward your subordinates. Don’t fool yourself, the ‘little people’ can do big things to you. Sabotage is a well known word in the workplace. Confidential files can mysteriously disappear from your cabinet and that important mail addressed to you marked ‘urgent’ might never reach your desk and before you know it, you are being raked across hot coals over your ‘carelessness.’

2. Choose your battles wisely

The workplace is full of battles and when you are an achiever, you will attract many challengers. Know who you are and the value you bring to your organisation. Use that quiet confidence and humility to guide you in choosing your battles because not every challenger is at your level, and accepting their invitation to fight will lower your value. A lesser opponent cannot add to your brand value. Let them earn the fight they seek to bring. Simply put, some people are not worth the fight, so know whose invitation to ignore.

3. Develop a habit of getting things in writing

I have learnt my lessons well in this regard. People will backtrack on commitments, deny they ever said things, and set you up if you rely on verbal agreements in the workplace. It’s your word against theirs and people will throw you under the bus and blatantly lie on you to get themselves out of a sticky situation. If someone constantly refuses to put things in writing, they are most likely the type who do not want to be held to their word.

4. Keep a paper trail

You might not be the most organised person but it is essential that you keep a paper trail of your correspondence with others, because your failure to provide evidence of your communication is one of the easiest ways that someone can get a leg up on you when making a false accusation in the workplace. Again, it’s your word against theirs, and unless you recorded your conversations, words are useless if you cannot provide the written evidence, so keep your paper trail at all times and take nothing and no one at face value.

5. Don’t get caught up with your job title and begin to walk around with your nose in the air

Exercise your authority and conduct yourself with confidence, but do so with respect for others and be humble. Remember, in the professional sphere you are as important as your last title. The minute you are relieved of that title, some persons will stop taking your calls, some will see you in the street and pretend they do not remember your name, you will call persons who were once readily available and find that you cannot get past the secretary, and the invitations from people of influence to certain places will dry up.

6. Give constructive rather than destructive criticism

People do not get it right all the time… they will mess up with some things. Recognise people’s weaknesses and provide constructive criticism. Don’t just say the approach was wrong; tell them how to get it right. Encourage and motivate. Don’t go discussing them with other colleagues. Take the time to identify the root of their problem and show them how to get better. Persons who are constantly criticised develop a defensive attitude because they have become so used to being put down. If you constantly make them feel bad about themselves, they will resent you and there are those who will sit and wait for or even plan your demise.

7. Be a team player without being a yes man

Some people find it very difficult to say no to a request made of them. You can still be a team player without being a yes man. The sad reality is that persons who say yes to every request are rarely happy. They say yes out of fear or a desire to please and often end up doing the task and complaining bitterly to themselves afterwards. Joyce Meyer’s bestselling book Approval Addiction is a very good book for these people to read. Being a team player is about supporting your team, but not at all costs. If you find yourself saying yes all the time then feeling bitter afterwards, or if you find that you are always refusing to support the team, something is wrong. Get that Joyce Meyer book.

8. Keep confidential documents under lock and key

Don’t leave confidential documents lying around and if you’re a manager, preferably you should have a hand in choosing the people who work closest with you, including your secretary/personal assistant because they can take you down easily. People will study you and if one of your weaknesses is organising your paperwork, you need a trusted personal assistant. Otherwise you will find volunteers seeking an opportunity to use your weakness against you.

9. Some people do not need a reason to dislike you

Yes, it is the harsh reality, so stop trying so hard to figure out why someone has taken an instant dislike to you for no apparent reason. For those sweet persons who find it difficult to accept that not everyone is as nice and sweet as you are, yes, people will dislike you for no reason and some will try to destroy you out of pure jealousy and insecurity. I have a habit of keeping some females in particular at arms’ length because I have found that there is too much petty jealousy and backbiting among us women in the workplace. Sad but true.

10. Keep your personal life out of the workplace

As much as possible, keep your personal life out of the workplace. My approach has been to choose carefully the persons in whom I confide, and if I do not trust someone, I will adopt certain boundaries with them while remaining very professional. From my own experience, the less people at the workplace know about your personal life, the better. The moment you share information about your personal life in the workplace, you open the door to your private space and risk it being invaded by persons who do not wish you well. Make no mistake, some persons, if they cannot find your weaknesses in the workplace, will use what they know about your personal life against you.

11. Achievers are targets

If you are an achiever, people will target you out of sheer jealousy. Some persons will try to outdo and outshine you at every opportunity. Some people see you as a healthy challenge because they are equally driven, but the sad truth is that not every person in the workplace is ambitious. Some come to work because it’s a means to an end… it pays the bills. They do not wake up with a smile and walk inside the building with a pep in their step. The fact that you go bouncing around, smiling, sharing ideas for revenue generation or professional development annoys them. So if you are an achiever, mentally prepare yourself. You will be targeted. Don’t be careless with anything you do, cross all your ‘T’s and dot your ‘I’s. Don’t be surprised if people start rumours about you to destroy your reputation. Your reputation is a key ingredient of your personal brand, so guard it zealously. If someone instigates malicious rumours about you in the workplace, nip it in the bud quickly. Request that human resources address the matter through a meeting with yourself and the person responsible and ensure that HR impresses upon them that there are consequences should they continue.

12. Be aware of the key characters in the workplace

A smart commander will know the types of soldiers his troops are up against on the battlefield. Likewise, you should take the time to identify several key characters in the workplace if you are going to survive working with them. The lions roar loudest to intimidate you, and they will succeed if you quiver and shake each time they open their mouths. They rely mainly on the loudness of their roar to scare people off, so don’t be intimidated. Snakes are people who are insecure, pretentious and shrewd. They see you as a threat but aren’t brave enough to attack from the front, so they move in on you quietly from behind until they are close enough to strike. They are particularly dangerous as they will pretend to be your friend, so you need to have a spirit of discernment to identify them and keep your ears to the ground to know when they are sneaking up on you.

Don’t forget Pinky and the Brain either. Pinky is always excited but never thinks things through before diving in, and will get you into serious trouble if you give them lead roles. Brains on your team always have an idea that they think is greater than yours, but there is always some mishap preventing their projects from being successful because they are egotistic and seek to grab all the glory for themselves. To stay on the safe side, don’t allow them to manage projects.

Finally, the workplace can provide great rewards if you are driven, disciplined, committed, passionate and strategic. However, the higher you rise in life, the greater the impact if or when you fall. As you rise, build your cushions. Maintain humility, treat others with respect. Never forget where you’re coming from and the people who helped you along the way. As you rise, take others with you; do not speak down to others. What you spent years building can come tumbling down in a day, so build those cushions to break your fall should it come.

Don’t tear your hair out because of workplace stress.