Why I think we should talk about tribes.

Some years ago, I wrote a training activity called Island of Opportunity , which is exclusively available to Trainers’ Library members.

In it, participants are put into small teams, representing four different tribes that ‘discover’ an island at the same time and must decide how to share it. Each tribe consists of a group of people with shared needs, wants and beliefs and, of course, these differ materially from the needs, wants and beliefs of other tribes.

The activity has been used in hundreds of organisations with universally fantastic feedback. But a few weeks ago, I received feedback that someone had objected to the use of the word ‘tribe’.

You might be wondering why.

It seems the problem comes down to a very narrow definition of the word tribe. For example, the Cambridge dictionary, defines tribe as:

“A group of people, often of related families, who live together, sharing the same language, culture, and history, especially those who do not live in towns or cities.”

The online Oxford dictionary (not to be confused with the Oxford English Dictionary) has an even narrower definition:

“A group of indigenous persons, families, or clans believed to be descended from a common ancestor and forming a close‐knit community under a defined leader, chief, or ruling council.”

Definitions like these, together with the examples provided are perhaps key to why the word might feel offensive to some. They show how tribe was, historically, associated with ‘primitiveness’, particularly when used in relation to African culture.

In my view, any definition that suggests tribalism is limited to Africa or to primitive cultures is potentially racist itself and carries more than a whiff of colonialism.

Because, here’s the thing. We are all, by nature tribal. We are drawn to people who are like us or who we perceive are like us. If evidence is needed, take a look at your Facebook page and reflect on who you’re connected to. They will, in general, be people who you sense ‘get you’. Similarly, the people you socialise with are likely to be people with similar backgrounds, interests or experiences who you feel comfortable being around and who have a similar outlook on life.

A tribe doesn’t necessarily mean, in today’s world, a group linked by blood/family, but rather a group of people who are drawn together by shared interests and beliefs.

People even talk about finding their tribe, which is why I believe more useful definitions of tribe are those like the one found in Merriam Webster (underneath the more traditional definitions):

“A group of persons having a common character, occupation, or interest.”

I talked recently about how ‘finding your tribe’ can be a really positive thing. Connecting with people we perceive to be like us, fulfils some of our most basic human needs – in particular, thinking about Maslow’s hierarchy, safety and a sense of belonging.

But there are risks and dangers too. When we form tribes, several things can happen:

We can start to make assumptions about the beliefs of those outside our tribe and judge their behaviours through our own narrow lens with no understanding of their own belief system.

We might start to see those outside our tribe as different and, potentially, dangerous.

Ultimately, tribalism can lead to misunderstanding, miscommunication, assumptions and a loss of trust.

In Island of Opportunity, you’ll often witness teams adopting a position and becoming entrenched in it, as they make assumptions about the motives of other tribes. But in reality their differences could easily be resolved by working together and treating those differences as shared problems.

Island of Opportunity provides a powerful way to show what happens when we start to think tribally – when we set ourselves apart from others, when we focus on differences and not similarities.

The use of tribes encourages debate and therefore learning around human behaviour and why tribalism (which in the workplace, we might call a silo mentality) gets in the way of co-operation, collaboration and a successful outcome to negotiations.

For this reason, at least for now, I’ll carry on using tribes in this activity. But for those who’d prefer to avoid the word, we now have an alternative version available which refers instead to ‘communities’. Just let us know if you need this.

Personally, I don’t think ‘communities’ carries the power or highlights the risks in the way ‘tribes’ does, but we understand the concerns and want to ensure the activity remains accessible to all.

What do you think? Your feedback really matters, so please add a comment and share your view. Because, conversations promote learning for us all.

By the way, if you’ve not yet used Island of Opportunity, here’s some recent feedback:

“I love this exercise because after preparing the materials you can almost sit back, relax and watch the complete lack of negotiation skills most people have. I always emphasis at the start how important it is for each tribe to get what they need. Give it a try, as the discussions after the exercise really do help explain the art of negotiation.”