Business leaders of even large
organizations today talk co-operation but promote and encourage competition
through their leadership style, body language and reward system. Over the
years, business organizations have been made to believe that competition within
the organization and among the employees is a good omen for business
development. A situation where one
manager/employee’s success meant the failure of others is typical of
competition. This flaw in paradigm is responsible for many invisible problems
in the workplace today. I am not saying everything is wrong with competition;
it has its own specific time and place if it is healthy.
In
the words of Stephen.R.Covey, author of The
7 Habits of Highly Effective People, ‘Interdependence is a higher value
than Independence’. This statement displaces competition for co-operation (Collaboration)
in the effective running of a business enterprise. The concept of competition
adopted within a business organization has done more harm to businesses than
good. It has ended up pitching many leaders against their peers in their own
organization in a way that hurt the team and cast a shadow on the realization
of the business’ corporate vision. Some individuals have already been scripted
in the win/loose mentality from birth, when one child is being compared to the
other and love and understanding is given or withdrawn on the basis of such
comparison. When such individuals come into an organization where competition
is celebrated they become a die-hard promoter of it both consciously and
unconsciously.
The
bane of effective interpersonal communication and building a great winning team
is competition. Competition explains why an individual will put his interest first
in a team ahead of that of the organization. It is what engenders strive among
professional colleagues. It promotes single and limited thinking (My good
Ideas) as against corporate (Shared) thinking through brainstorming. It
excludes others. Competition can destroy the hope of an organization realizing
its corporate vision, as individualism can never achieve what is called
corporate.
A
higher and more desirable value for effective organizational operation today is
Co-operation (Collaboration). Co-operation which can also be referred to as a
win/win mindset, constantly seeks mutual benefits in all human interactions.
Co-operation in a business organization creates a platform where team members
feel good about decisions and feel committed to the action plan. The co-operation/collaboration
paradigm views life as a co-operative, and not a competitive arena. The
co-operation strategy when promoted in an organization will help every team
member understand that the success of one person is not achieved at the expense
or exclusion of the success of others.
Exploring
the value of co-operation/collaboration for organizational success focuses on
producing personal and organizational excellence in an entirely different way
by developing information and reward systems which reinforced the value of
co-operation. Rather than spur co-workers to compete with themselves in the
same organization, co-operation breeds an atmosphere of trust required to
effectively synergize different talents and skills to advance business goals.
Innovation
thrives more on collaboration. Gone are the days when we used to think great
ideas can only pop-up in some super individuals’ heads. All across the globe
today, innovation comes alive and runs faster on the wheel of collaboration.
Promoting co-operation in your organization will facilitate a win-win mindset
among your people. Each one begins to think how the team wins, the teams think
how the organization wins and the organization ensures that its people win in
turn.
Developing
a culture of co-operation in a business organization will enhance the focus of
such organization to strive for or maintain an enviable leadership position in
its industry. All internal forces and resources are easily marshaled to combat
the uncontrollable external competition and threats.
The
bottom line is this, the success of the whole organization is more important
than any individual wins and relevance. Mind you, individuals are brought into
the organization to help accomplish its vision, so nothing will help better
than the co-operation strategy, a-joint-lifting of the organization to its
dreamland.
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