The Zombie Apocalypse

• As Halloween approached this year, we asked ourselves what could possibly be scarier than undead flesh-eating zombies. It dawned on us that our focus on growth the past few months left our leadership and management teams to fend for themselves on formal leadership training. While they may not be deliberately cruel and violent like zombies, our leaders and managers needed a refresher on best-practices. We joined forced with Organizational Psychologist Dr. Daniel Crosby to devise an apocalyptic zombie training session just in time for Halloween.

• What We Did:

  Prepare for the Apocalypse

  Three predetermined leaders selected members for their teams based on who they felt would best survive a zombie apocalypse. Once the teams had been selected, Dr. Crosby conducted an assessment test to show the diversity of each team. Members of the most homogenous team lost and became the first of many zombified CLEARLINKers.

  Rally Cry

  Next, Dr. Crosby, stressed the importance of getting each member of the team on the same page during a zombie apocalypse and asked each group to create a crest and motto that expressed their common survival goals.

• The teams presented their work and were again assessed based on zombie survival methodologies that eerily paralleled leadership skills needed in the workplace. The poor performers fell victim to the second zombie attack of the day.

  Team Persuasion

  In order for each team to continue their survival they had to engage their fight or flight instincts while fending off a zombie battle. Teams were divided on strategy, so leaders were forced to use their weapons of influence in order to persuade cooperation and action.

  Communicate Accurately

  Ultimately all teams decided to stand united and fight. But how do you kill a zombie at night, in the pitch black, with nothing but a pair of night-vision goggles and a gun?

• The team member manning the gun had to rely on another team member wearing the goggles to communicate the position of the zombies before pulling the trigger. Winning teams had indestructible communication skills, killed the most zombies, and avoided zombification. Others weren't so lucky.

  Build or Die

  The fight still wasn't over. For the fifth and final challenge, and in order to survive the night, teams had to build an elevated housing solution based on the marshmallow experiment by Tom Wujec. The tallest standing structures won, while the losing teams lost even more members to the zombies.

• What We Learned:

  • Diversity: It's human nature to choose a team or hire employees that are similar to you. While homogenous teams may make decisions more quickly, more diversified teams make better decisions and have more success.
  • Communication: Effective team communication is an acquired skill. Our managers were introduced to the seven C's of communication:
    1. Clear - stick to one idea
    2. Concise - be brief
    3. Concrete - detailed and factual
    4. Correct - free of error
    5. Coherent - logical and topical
    6. Complete - all parts necessary
    7. Courteous - friendly, open, honest
• • Persuasion: We work in marketing, but persuading a team you work with every day isn't the same as persuading a customer. Our leaders were given an arsenal of six weapons to influence their teams:
    1. Reciprocity - "I owe you one..."
    2. Commitment - Foot in the Door.
    3. Social Proof - "Everybody's doing it!"
    4. Authority - 9 out of 10 doctors.
    5. Liking - She's smart, just like me.
    6. Scarcity - Limited time only

  While most of the content shared in our zombie leadership training was standard, we chose to deliver it through a more engaging experience in hopes of building longer lasting memory and application of the topics discovered. In fact, it was so engaging that nobody wanted to take a break during the entire half-day session! Big thanks to Dr. Daniel Crosby for developing an innovative training session we'll never forget!