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Creating Healthy Competition in Teams - Fleximize

Creating Healthy Competition in Teams

How can you create competition and why would you want to?

By Emma Meakin

Creating competition in teams can have valuable commercial benefits for the business. We all thrive on competition, but you have to strike a balance and achieve healthy competition without creating a negative environment.

Targets, deadlines and rewards

Setting targets and deadlines for teams is a great way of establishing healthy competition. Why not offer a reward for the person with the highest sales? Or shorten a deadline but offer a reward for the team to meet the new date. These may seem like simple ideas but we all like to win and therefore offering a reward can help.

Chart productivity and performance objectively, and ensure that all team members can see who’s leading the pack by putting the information on a notice board. But make sure the criteria is clear and transparent, so that team members feel that the competition is fair and worth fighting for.

Cooperative competition

Remember that some kinds of cooperation can be corrosive to motivation and productivity. Aim for healthy, cooperative competition that employees will perceive as fair and enjoyable. Public acknowledgement and praise from managers can be a powerful tool. Make sure this is used as a reward for exceptional work and that it is not seen as favouritism. In this way, team members will compete for this approval.

Promoting healthy competition will motivate staff to hit their targets and carry out work to the highest quality. A motivated workforce will generate more income and leads for the business, making it mutually beneficial.