Why healthy competition among employees works

Why healthy competition among employees worksWhy healthy competition among employees worksOne of my favorite childhood memories is the centuries-old national tradition ofcolor warat camp.I loved the intensity of this week of games, contests and events, as well as the life lessons it imparted. We celebrated when we won and cried when we lost, but we learned to compete and respect each other simultaneously.We are now just emerging from a generation of parenting that gave competition a bad rap and ignored the psychological benefits that can be gained from learning how to win and lose. And thats not just my own experience - its been saidthat competition effectively brings out peoples creativity, innovation and camaraderie.Building a killer instinct among friendsAt my company, we strive to infuse color war-style competition in the workplace and have found that not only does it improve our culture, but it also raises our performance as a gruppe. From brain teaser scavenger hunts to Amazing Race-style challenges, our focus on healthy competition has paid off Acceleration Partners welchesranked No. 4on Fortunes 2016 list of the top 10 places to work within our industry.To promote collaborative innovation and trust among teams, you need to appreciate the competitive process more than the end result. Competition exists in life and business you cant ignore it. Someone out there wants your employees, your clients, your absatzwirtschaft mindshare and more. If youre content with being in second or third place, thats where youll end up.If you want to be a market leader, you have to understand these three truths about fostering competitionCompetition can be a good thing.When team members work together towards a shared goal, they push one another to be more creative, productive and motivated. Even when a team loses, its members maintain that feeling of goodwill.At our annual meeting in Boston last year, we held a Great Race competition based on Boston-specific clues. One team h ad the odds stacked against it Not a single partie on the team was from (or familiar with) the city. It was no surprise that the team finished last, but that didnt discourage its members They didnt get angry or let their loss sour the experience. Instead, they worked together and learned what they could have done to overcome their disadvantage, buildingresilience and determination, and some new friendships. In the end, we all agreed that this team had more fun than any otherHow you compete matters.When competition is tight,researchshows that those who compete out of fear of losing often turn negative. Rather than learn from the experience, some companies might demonstrate this by acting like sore losers when theyve lost a bid, badmouthing competitors or making excuses for why they didnt get the work. Dont be that company Failures, after all, can be valuable learning opportunities. And the more you learn, the better you become. Performance marketing is a very competitive industry. We dont win every client opportunity that wed like to, but we compete respectfully, and its paid us back in spades. Many times, clients who initially passed on us have reached out down the road to work with us. Because we display no hard feelings when we arent initially selected, we keep the door open for a future relationship. How do we manage to maintain this mindset? Our version of color war has helped us embrace and appreciate healthy competition. By creating random teams that compete for a small period of time and then returning to our normal groups, we ensure that everyone understands that how you treat people during the contest matters. Just because someone is on another team one day doesnt mean he cant be on yours the next.Internal - and external - collaboration is essential.Collaboration and competition are not mutually exclusive. To effectively compete, you must collaborate. Many highly-talented individuals within our company wouldnt be nearly as effective if they didnt wo rk together as a team. Its all about leveraging each persons skills and capabilities, and not expecting one person to carry the entire load or have all the answers.This idea also applies externally The most successful companies are those that expand andstrengthen partnerships, resulting in nimble innovation and strategic problem-solving. Weve seen this concept at work at my company. Although some companies in our industry might view us as competitors, we know that when we collaborate and share our expertise as partners, we can help each other solve some of the industrys biggest challenges.Finish strong - no matter the resultsEven if you know youre not going to win, theres real value in seeing the competition through and displaying resilience. For example, in a brain teaser competition held at our annual meeting, only one team could win. Even after word spread that we already had a winner, the remaining teams continued to work together to complete the activity.They didnt quit just b ecause they knew they wouldnt win they all wanted to see it through and solve the problem themselves. When teams are released from the pressure of winning or losing, they start to feel free to reach for (and focus on) personal performance heights. All startups could use a little more of that initiative within their teams.Entrepreneurs need to remind their employees how enjoyable the challenges of healthy competition are, and teach them to embrace the opportunities it affords them to reach their full potential. Pretending there arent winners and losers doesnt help anyone in fact, it often sets up a situation for disappointment. Its time to return to embracing competition because, whether were winning or losing, were always learning.Robert Glazer is the founder and managing director ofAcceleration Partners.This column first appeared at Business Collective.