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Caroline BerdonThe West Australian We've all suffered that first day on a new job: it can be terrifying. Being a stranger and potential threat amid a clan who all know each other can

feel a little like entering the lions' den. But if we are that person being sized up by the masses, we shouldn't feel indignant, says people expert Andrew O'Keeffe. We should

accept that our new colleagues are only human and humans are hardwired to react this way. In his new book, Hardwired Humans, O'Keeffe argues that while humans may have come a long way

since our days on the African savannah more than 150,000 years ago, we're still programmed by the same survival instincts. These days, most of us spend the majority of our waking hours

at work, many of us in offices. And offices are strange places, O'Keeffe says, because they are not our natural habitat, yet we still apply the same rules of survival in the corridors

and meeting rooms of our workplace that we used on the savannah all those centuries ago. Take the poor newbie on his first day on the job, feeling unloved and threatened by his new work

colleagues. Their cold and judgemental traits are just tribal, says O'Keeffe. "We have caution about changes," he says. "You can imagine on the savannah that our

150-strong nomadic community was very sensitive about running into members of another clan, even within our tribe, and it's led to people being protective of their own and sensitive to

strangers who are not like us. "Being social animals, our standing in the pecking order is also of huge importance to us. "A new person, by definition, disturbs that pecking order

. . . and subtle relationships need to be re-established." But while we are guided first and foremost by our emotions, O'Keeffe says our power of intellect allows us to control our

actions. In the case of the newcomer, team members should recognise that they may be feeling protective of their place, but they should try to go out of their way to say hello, spend time

and be welcoming, he says. For social animals like us, being part of a group is essential. "Some animals survive because they're really strong or have great speed. We survive

through group belonging, which means individuals being members of a small family group of about seven. "Family groups come together to form clans of up to 150 people who support each

other for the supply of food and to protect against predators." O'Keeffe says businesses work best when they organise their staff in groups of this size. He uses the example of

Flight Centre, which has structured its employees into families, villages and tribes. "If you passed a Flight Centre store, you'll see there's no more than seven people

working that store and these stores will sit in a village of about 80 people," he says. "Through simple organisational design, they have set up their organisation to be functional.

Even one extra body in the wrong place can send the system out of whack. "They've found that even if an eighth person was appointed, productivity drops because something

mysterious happens." In the same way that being part of the right-sized group encourages bonding, so too does office gossip, O'Keeffe says. He believes that rather than being

dismissed as a time waster, idle chit chat around the water cooler should actually be encouraged "We gossip for two reasons: one, to gather and share information and two, it's our

form of bonding," he says. "In the workplace we cannot be connected to people unless we spend time in idle chit chat." In fact, he advises managers to encourage their

employees to gossip by organising a lunch or drinks after a meeting. But even if we are happily connected to our work "family", humans by nature will always be sensitive to their

hierarchical standing and competitive - because in ancient times, this ensured our survival and the ability to breed. "That's why we always pay more attention in a performance

review to criticism than praise," O'Keeffe says, "because criticism potentially threatens our status in the hierarchy." So how should we deal with criticism in a rational

way? "Recognise how you are feeling and question whether or not you have all the right information," he says. "And if not, try to suspend judgment until you know more. Try to

make sense of your emotions." But while we can focus on the negative, the paradox is we can often have an inflated sense of own ability compared to our peers, which is also a hardwired

trait of humans because it enabled us to attract a mate. "That's why there's a premium placed on success and looking good." O'Keeffe says that in recognising our

competitive natures, we should try to monitor our behaviour towards our employees. One handy way to do this is to apply the "five-word" test. "Think about the regarding in

which you want to be held. If your team were to say five things about you, what would they say," he says. "Your inflated self-view may warp that so you may want a buddy who has a

robust relationship with you to offer their honest opinion. If your behaviour is negative, you should ask yourself why, O'Keeffe says. "Is it the organisation? Is it the nature of

the managers? Are you able to communicate with managers?" "Offices don't have to be dysfunctional," he adds. "They can be very good places to be." GET THE

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