While “workplace survival” conjures up images of moose hunting in Alaska (sorry, I’ve listened to too much election coverage), in fact, many of the skills that are needed to succeed in the workplace are never taught. I thought about this yesterday when listening to a talk by Paul Rosenthal, Director for Consumer Segmentation and Engagement at Health Dialog. Paul, an alumni of the joint Emerson-Tufts Health Communication Program, told students and faculty about how he got to and what he does in his current role. Much of what he described was how he developed – and is still learning – workplace survival skills.
A quick search on workplace survival brought up results ranging from wilderness training to a Dale Carnegie course on How to Communicate with Diplomacy and Tact (I love the course title!) None of the courses I saw are offered in the Health Communication Program except Professional Communication. When I teach I convey some information to my students about the “real world”. Paul, who is also an adjunct professor, undoubtedly does too. And then, of course, there is what viewers learn, for better or for worse, from The Office and other television shows.
Ultimately, workplace survival may be mostly learned by experience in the trenches, so to speak. But I believe that more explicit descriptions, like Paul provided in his talk, of dealing with difficult situations successfully, helps. Furthermore, social networking affords opportunities for graduates to stay in touch and benefit, not just from sharing job openings, but from each others’ experiences and lessons learned in the workplace.