Healthy and Unhealthy Competition

Experienced leaders are generally good in spotting unhealthy competition. Yet, it is difficult to articulate the differences, let alone propose remedies.  Not if you are Adam Grant (Wharton Professor and author of several best sellers like Give and Take: Why helping others drives our success, Originals: How non-conformists change the world and Option B: Facing adversity; Building resilience and Finding joy).

In his monthly feature Wondering where he answers readers questions on work and psychology, he has beautifully answered a question on healthy and unhealthy competition:

Can you describe the difference between healthy competition and unhealthy competition in the workplace, and the factors that contribute to each?

For me, the difference boils down to whether you’re rooting for your opponent to raise your game or trying to shake your opponent off their game. You know competition is healthy when rivals train together, go out for drinks afterward, and share a goal of making each other better. It’s healthy when the loser buys lunch for the winner, but unhealthy when the loser steals the winner’s lunch from the fridge. It’s healthy when you work extra hard to beat your opponent, but unhealthy when you hire someone to beat your opponent up.

It’s easier to get healthy competition if you…

• Make the competition between groups instead of between individuals
• Have collective goals that matter more than individual goals—like sports teams where players compete with each other during practice but band together to win games
• Start off cooperative and only introduce friendly competition after people trust and respect each other
• Put clear boundaries around competition—like IDEO does in brainstorming contests where people compete to generate the most novel and useful ideas

Please add all his books to your reading list. They are fun to read and filled with wit and wisdom. So are his blogs.