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Better you, Better me
Is your workplace healthy?
Even in 2025 we know that too many workplaces play people off against each other, creating a culture of what they call ‘healthy competition’ – handing out rewards for meeting targets, and pitting each member of the team against their peers. This competitive environment brings high stress, and employers only seem to showcase their “stars”: those who achieve the best results – and nothing the rest have achieved is ever mentioned!
But is this a healthy working environment for everyone?
It might see some people shooting for that top spot, and winning deal after deal – we’ve all worked with those individuals who thrive in competitive environments, and seem to respond with even greater success under that kind of pressure – but it often means the same faces reach that prize more than others. If you aren’t top dog, what you have achieved is irrelevant, leaving the majority of the team feeling unworthy, unappreciated, and – as a result – demoralised.
Do you want to inspire fantastic work from just a select few key players, or do you want every member of your team to perform better, achieve more, and feel fulfilled in their role?
In every industry we know that targets are important, and recognise setting goals that will stretch people matters. It’s also important, however, to instill every person in the organisation with a drive to perform, and to achieve more, and be passionate about those goals – and with the skills, tools and culture that enable them to do it.
Is pushing for excellence, and putting such emphasis on one or two high achievers above everyone else, so important to your Leadership team that you’re willing to crush the potential of the other 99% of your team? Is rewarding one person’s success so vital that you’ll let others – many with huge potential, experience and talent, feel demoralised and despondent under your roof, and potentially leave for new opportunities with your competitors?
When you see such a high proportion of your workforce demoralised, to the point that they’re seeking employment elsewhere, that’s a lot of potential – which you invested time into recruiting, training and embedding into your team – wasted.
The way we see it, great leadership isn’t about putting a shining star on the top of your company tree: it's about creating a strong foundation that every member of the team can build on.
Happy people perform better!
You can’t build lasting success on the backs of competition alone. You can’t sustain excellence in a culture that pits people against each other, and where one stumble can see talent discarded for a shiny new star.
Rather than setting one target, and having everyone in the team compete for the top spot – an approach that can only ever result in one winner – create personal targets for your team.
If competition is your tool for inspiration, division naturally follows. Rather than making enemies in your ranks, build camaraderie and mutual support into the culture. Individual goals, set with the ambition, experience and talent each person brings to your organisation, allows everyone to meet their own goals, develop their skills and grow over time. Autonomy over their growth inspires healthy interactions, and gives each individual the tools to stretch beyond where they began – developing a more personal (and passionate) sense of satisfaction in their role. This also brings a commitment to your organisation; commitment which retains the talent and experience you’ve supported, and cements your wider success.
Investing in the development of all your people is a far more successful tool than offering big shiny rewards to one or two star players. Investing in your people gives them greater job satisfaction, but also ensures that you have people in your organisation who want to give more in return, who are more confident and competent, and who succeed in reaching higher targets.
Happy people perform far better than those living under the constant pressure of trying to reach unattainable targets, in a culture where there are no friends, only ‘the competition’.
No successful organisation is the result of one person’s brilliance: success comes from everyone. From the cohesive, collaborative efforts of the whole. Every member of the team – no matter how long they’ve been in their role – needs to feel that they are an important part of the bigger picture, and have value beyond simply ‘hitting targets’.
Invest in their training and development, and you can turn new team members into experts, experts into leaders, leaders into inspirations, and inspirations into what your organisation is known for – and who wouldn’t want that reputation?
Call us today on 01234 757575, to discuss our leadership development programmes, and we can work with you to create a plan which develops your entire organisation, bringing the best from every individual, and you’ll see overall growth and a significant improvement in performance. Not only does this improve performance, it improves employee retention; happier employees perform better.
Investing in your employees’ growth makes them better at their job – and it makes you a better employer.