Here’s what I know: there’s a line between competition and rivalry

When you work in a fast-paced environment, your workers might compete for recognition, bonuses, or promotions.

Whilst healthy competition can be a great way to boost morale and incentivise your staff to stay engaged with the work, it’s important to draw a line.

If the competition is too strong, it can cause a rift between colleagues. That’s when they stop working together. They stop communicating. Because why would you want to help the competition?

You need to be cautious. Not all jobs are meant to be competitive. And encouraging staff to compete in a job where collaboration is vital could end up breaking bonds rather than strengthening them. Competition might lead to an ‘every person for themself’ mentality. Then, you get the head butting, bullying claims, and productivity dips.

What happens next is your staff are prioritising their own results over the needs of your business.

Not to mention, everyone’s different. Some might do their best work under pressure. Others might have the opposite experience. Be mindful that people work in different ways.

You don’t have to pit your employees against one another to have competition. You can add competition by getting your staff to work together to achieve an overall goal. This gives them something to work on as a team. When everyone’s a winner, you reduce the risk of resentment bubbling under the surface….

Plus, there are other factors that can keep staff driven. Don’t underestimate the power of regular positive feedback, a healthy work environment, and consistent support from yourself.

Then, when you do add a bit of extra competition, you only build on the success you’ve started from the ground up.

To help you out, Peninsula offers expert support to help you on your way, like:

• advice on creating incentives and bonus schemes that will incentivise your workers
• HR and health & safety tips to help you maintain a strong and happy workforce
• giving your staff access to free one-to-one counselling and self-help resources through the employee assistance programme (EAP)
• hundreds of online e-learning courses to upskill you and your workers so you become the best you can be

Any queries, just give us a call on 0800 029 4384 .