Competition Kills Culture
I have been recently been watching Gotham (FOX Television) on Netflix. In one of the early episodes in season one a CEO of a company literally puts potential new hires or people looking to get promoted in a fight to the death against the other candidates. This is obviously a made up story in a show, but it reminded me of why competition can kill a culture.
Has your organization ever promoted some kind of internal competition? Here are some less deadly and more realistic examples than the Gotham one I mentioned:
Multiple people are up for the same promotion and one of them gets it, which is great for that person, but not so great for the others. This situation happens all the time, but the killer is when the company actually makes a big deal about this situation. A lot of times the losers of these competitions end up leaving the organization.
A company creates a competition where the top salesperson wins a free trip somewhere or a bonus of some kind. This sounds fine, right? But what about the people who don’t win? And honestly do these incentives actually increase productivity? Typically the top producers win because they are the top producers. The other people don’t do much more than they usually do and they are left thinking that those other employees get everything and they always get nothing.
Employee of the Month awards are prevalent in many organizations. Typically this recognition involves awarding employees who simply do what they are supposed to and it can often be a popularity contest. Winning can be the result of personality rather than production.
Internal competition on a team, a desire for personal rather than team accomplishment undermines a team. It can cripple an organization. It can quickly turn a positive culture into a negative one. Never set up competitive situations where one team member must face off against another team member. This creates a disconnect between your people.
Competition can lead to more stress for some employees that may lower productivity. Some people don’t perform well under pressure and are more productive when the culture allows for a more easygoing approach to getting things done.
Healthy competition in an organization or on a team should be the team vs. the opposing team. In sports, an attitude of: “the team lost but ‘I’ was the game MVP is a recipe for a losing season. We shouldn’t keep score on personal accomplishments. Most people understand this, yet organizations still continue to create internal competitions.
Competition tends to come from the leaders of the organization. Those same leaders are the ones who shape the culture. Perhaps they see nothing wrong with a little competition, but what about the other employees? What do they want?
Most importantly as a leader in an organization you must KNOW YOUR PEOPLE. This simple factor will help build a positive culture or turnaround a toxic one.
Let’s get rid of internal competition and focus on what’s most important. That of course being RESULTS. Great results don’t come from competition. They come from ACTION. We need a little less talk and a lot more action.
