In its healthiest form competition can be motivating and help boost productivity however real life situations prove this isn’t always the case.

My current reason to stay home on a Friday night is the reality TV show Project Runway hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and starring a variety of aspiring fashion designers. They all compete against each other on an assortment of design projects being judged and eliminated one by one until finally the top designer is crowned. The show is a great mix of feuding, designing, designing and feuding. It makes for great viewing but also makes me wonder if competition really does bring out the best in us?

Do we perform best when we’re competing and when the fear of inferiority is looming. Andrew Grove said ‘Every employee will compete with every person anywhere in the world who is capable of doing the same job’. The pressure of not being the best in our chosen field of expertise is so great that we can push ourselves to our absolute limits. This drive and determination is justified but can make the pressure even more intense and employees will try to outperform at the expense of others or even the good of the company.

Rivalry in the workplace can cause personal agendas that may interfere with team results. At times in the show Project Runway the rival designers have to team up in order to see if they can work cohesively, they choose their teams and then proceed to put together a range. This creates very interesting team dynamics as they attempt to work together while all the time having their own best interests at heart. The infighting and intimidation tactics that occur result in the withholding of important information, low morale and productivity and destroyed interpersonal relationships. Rather than using their peers as a resource or basis of inspiration they see them as a threat.

cooperation and sharing of resources between competing individuals will have a positive effect on a company’s bottom line

Employees need to establish a common purpose and not fall into the concept of Win or Lose. Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People suggests that we start to ‘think Win/Win, mutual benefit in all human interactions’. He also advocates ‘synergy, cooperative creativity that uses everyone’s best gifts’. This cooperation and sharing of resources between competing individuals will have a positive effect on a company’s bottom line and make winners out of all of us.

On a daily basis we are asked to ‘compete to win’. We are naturally influenced to enter the latest prize draw and contend against others to come out on top. It is little wonder that we can find it difficult to differentiate quality competition, say, on the sports field from detrimental competition in the workplace.  In an industry such as fashion and apparel, the tough competition to gain employment in the first instance can often be carried with us into the company environment where it is not so mutually beneficial.

I am without doubt that a bit of healthy competition makes us rise to the occasion and produce results we may otherwise fail to achieve. The competition between designers on Project Runway certainly keeps me interested but besides that I’m sure it makes them the innovative and exceptional designers they have the potential to be.