Employees may not be literally putting on boxing gloves, but they’re growing more competitive with one another than ever before.
Some 46 percent of senior executives said they believe employees are more competitive with one another today than they were 10 years ago in a poll by Office Team, the administrative staffing service based in Menlo, Calif.
While some competition is healthy in a free market, too much of it can affect teamwork, especially when organizations are tightening their belts.
Elizabeth Lombardo, a psychologist in Wexford, Pa., says with tough economic times, workers are worried about possibly losing their jobs.
“They are concerned about not getting the credit they think they deserve and need in orderto keep their jobs. It truly is a survival mentality where people are fighting for limited resources to stay alive,” she said.
Unhealthy competition can lead to turf wars, grudges between co-workers, damaged work relationships, low morale, deteriorating productivity and unresolved conflicts, says Avery Henderson, a speaker about morale and productivity in Durham, N.C.
He suggests embracing the concept of “coopetition,” a blend of cooperation and competition. Henderson points to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who, as he struggled to unite a troubled nation, famously said that competition is useful to a certain point and no further, and that cooperation must continue where competition leaves off.
Henderson’s idea of “coopetition” involves the sharing of information and resources among competing individuals in a company and even among organizations. The approach, he says, can raise workplace standards.
“Think about it. Coopetition is based on the principle that the individual has the betterment of the team and the organization at heart, rather than self-promotion,” he says.
Henderson says he firmly believes that coopetition, along with cooperation, collaboration, problem-solving and creativity, can overcome inappropriate competition in the workplace.
Thom Singer, an expert in social networking from Austin, Texas, agrees that finding the balance between the individual goals for success and the good of the organization is the key.
“I have heard from people who are paranoid that in tough times their co-workers are their enemy in the face of possible layoffs,” he says. “I think that is sad, but a reality of the economic situation. However, the most successful people in the long run are ones who help others succeed, not those who plot to undermine others.”
Sing says it’s possible to rise as an individual and contribute to the good of the company. But you can’t do it in a self-centered way. If you crawl over people to reach the top, they will look forward to your fall. If you reach the top serving as a partner to your co-workers, then everyone can have more success together.
“And you can’t fake it,” Sing says. “Those who pretend to want to help others while secretly only looking out for themselves are eventually discovered.”
Susan Young, who writes about conflict resolution in the workplace, says it can also require rising as a leader.
“Set the pace and standards higher than what’s typically been done or is expected. Colleagues won’t feel jealous or competitive,” says the San Antonio, Texas, author. “It will seem like fun and everyone will want to go along for the success ride.”
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