Focus on Collaboration, Not Competition

Why should you focus your team on collaboration and not on competition?

Some leaders believe that employees will perform better if they have rivalries with other teams. They will have things like crew of the month or employee of the month, really thinking that if they are competing against each other, it will bring out the best in everyone.

While there are some competitive people who this could work for, why even incentivize it by pitting people against each other? Even though there are a small number of people motivated by competition, most of your team members are motivated to win together.

Use these tips to focus your team on collaboration, not competition:

1. Use scorekeeping to drive excellence.

Companies measure more now than ever before, and they post all those numbers on fancy charts or light-up boards. The problem is if you do not use those numbers effectively, your team members are going to think it is about competing with the other shift or with each other to get recognition.

The reality is, the scoreboard gives you good data to show them how they could perform even better in the future.

2. Set everyone up to win.

Your job as a leader is to set a standard of excellence and then celebrate every person who can cross that level of performance. You want multiple people to achieve what you need them to achieve, not just one or two.

Don’t set the bar lower, rather, set it high and help your team cross over that threshold.

3. Focus on winning the customer.

It doesn’t do your team any good to fight against each other or other shifts. Ultimately, your company is trying to win over the customer. That means focusing on the entire potential of your team, not just on beating yesterday’s numbers.

By supporting your team and collaborating with each other to win, it’s going to build even stronger team bonds, and they’re going to want to be loyal to one another and win together. That’ll help you generate better numbers as well.

Now, once you have figured out how to get your team focused on collaboration, you might decide that it is time to work on some of your other leadership skills and abilities. No matter how we can help, we are here.