Leadership and Anarchy in the Survival Group

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a comment from Anonymous, on Survival being a Team Sport and Requiring some Command Structure,………"I think it would be impossible to have any diverse group survive intact over the long term. If there were only one Alpha then maybe. If there are two Alpha's then there will be a fight for power sooner or later. The only exception I can imagine is a family unit with a long history a clan/tribe style leadership, something along the lines of what you see in many Middle Eastern countries. I think also if there were men and women and there were not clear and settled relationships between them all that this element alone would eventually cause a breakdown in the social structure. My feeling is family would work OK as long as there were no unusual personalities. Possibly even a few close friends too. But I just don't see an eclectic group of people working together for very long.

UrbanMan replies: You are right about two Alpha males potentially creating a hazardous situation for a Survival Group. The only ways to eliminate this is to select your Survival Group members carefully,…choose people who are going to be team members,…have an agreed upon chain of command or otherwise a decision making process. I have been a member of groups that consisted of nothing by Alpha males,..not to mention aggressive and well armed at that. What kept us from self destructing was a common objective (a mission and a plan) and an existing chain of command.

You will run into problems even with one Alpha Male – decision maker. If you have a survival group that consists of ad-hoc members that was put together by collapse circumstances rather than a Survival Plan, you still run the risk of people resenting the leader. I have seen it many times where the leader gets the brunt of the blame – this is natural. Even in the absence of critical thinking where the Survival Group members bear problems, but no solutions and have no idea on how they would react if placed in a leadership position.

I think the key is building your Survival Group, or the biggest part of it, before a collapse and before you start integrating strap hangers and stragglers. Having an agreed upon chain of command or decision making structure, but anyway you cut it, there will have to be a final decision authority. A chain of command will give the best chances for continuity of operations when key leaders are gone for whatever reason. Rules and consequences for breaking these rules need to be developed and enforced. Other wise the Survival Group is not a team, but a collection of individuals.

It has been my experience in military units and law enforcement organizations, that the best Alphas can work for other Alphas. It is usually the non-Alphas that create problems…..these are people that put them first and the Group second. Again, pre-selection of members, established rules and protocols are your counter measures for anarchy within the Survival Group.