Introduction
Almost every aspect of human life involves a substantial share of competition, with most organizational environments encouraging individuals to compare themselves to others. The general phenomenon of competitiveness and contests in business is a positive idea because it enables the growth and development of companies and their workers.
Discussion
However, when it transforms into an unhealthy opposition between parties, the outcomes will be unpleasant for the organization because it will result in high turnover rates and a drop in productivity. The latter will be caused by the fact that employees may be more focused on attacking others instead of achieving actual results. If it becomes unhealthy, workplace competition results in the open expression of envy and an atmosphere of unkindness, facilitating unprofessional and unethical behavior. My first year as an employee has challenged my attitude toward workplace rivalry. It helped me realize that competition without toxicity, distrust, and disrespect to others is possible but requires additional effort as well as mindfulness. From this experience, I have learned that staying respectful, genuine, and kind to co-workers in any hierarchical position fuels healthier competition, and the latter builds open communication, trust, and respect.
Several years ago, I got my first job in a small yet clearly hierarchically divided organization, with the leadership actively encouraging competition in almost every aspect of everyday operations. The managerial team would frequently offer courses to promote industry knowledge, and open comparisons using some complex performance measurement methodologies were standard practice. During the initial month, I was exempt from such evaluations and assumed that the process would not become a negative experience. However, seeing my unsatisfactory position in the first performance comparison chart left me with a sense of puzzlement and disappointment. Almost every competitive workplace culture unintentionally or purposefully creates a divide between teams. Constant winners’ identities became rather clear to me, but surprisingly, all of them turned out to be the team members I often talked to and treated with deep respect. That exposure to a competing environment and learning that most people I was supposed to see as rivals were my good acquaintances caused a massive shift in my thinking about competition. Thus, I decided to pay more attention to the dynamics of my performance results and personal struggles rather than the best employees’ tremendous success.
Seeing oneself as one’s own main competitor often enables individuals to make their approaches to competing healthier and invest enough attention to self-improvement while also maintaining trust and openness in workplace communication. This mindset worked perfectly in my case, enabling me to concentrate on the remaining knowledge deficits and skills to improve and helping me stay genuine and kind to others despite formal and job position differences. To a great extent, the new mindset supported me in staying respectful and engaging in open communication with anyone, eventually providing me with new inspiration for self-improvement. I started to connect to the best team members more actively, observing their methods, attitudes to clients, and preferred communicative strategies. Furthermore, I would often ask follow-up questions regarding their efforts, openly and honestly admitting that learning from them was a pleasurable experience. I started to notice how much respect each of the most morally-driven employees, including the managers, actually deserved for staying loyal to the team and devoting much time to education. Eventually, the more I realized the importance of kindness to colleagues regardless of their title, the better my own performance would become.
Conclusion
In summary, that experience with competing in the workplace has taught me that staying kind, genuine, and respectful during interactions with those on any steps of the hierarchical ladder is central to positive competition. According to my takeaways, competitiveness, if healthy enough, it actually builds trust, mutual respect, and open communication instead of ruining productivity and negatively affecting the company’s goals. I realized that unnecessary rivalry drains energy, reducing employee productivity, which is harmful to organizational productivity. On the other hand, respectfulness and kindness create a positive working environment. Maintaining such behaviors despite the possible pain of comparison is possible by shifting attention to one’s personal dynamics as an employee and recognizing that others’ success results from active efforts. I learned this attitude from stoic philosophy teachings that I am interested in that suggest that a person should always strive to improve oneself instead of focusing on attaining other people’s goals and ambitions. Similarly, I acquired the idea of being kind to others and strict with myself from the same philosophical school. Hopefully, I will manage to spread this way of thinking in every organization I enter in the future.