Working With Others Isn’t Supposed To Be A Competition
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Aug 18, 2012
A couple of weeks ago I ended physical therapy that I was going to because of a problem I've been having with one of my legs. Turns out the issue is actually in my back, even though it doesn't hurt, and my physician figured that having me going to someone who'd give me exercises couldn't hurt.
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From day one, the therapist I had and I kind of had this interesting little thing going back and forth. He was obviously an educated guy, as he kept showing off by using terms that I hadn't heard before. I had been to this same place 9 years earlier, so I knew that wasn't a normal part of how things were supposed to go.
When people go to get medical attention, they want the person they're talking to speaking to them in regular terms. Obviously this guy hadn't gotten that message. Every time I would try to explain what I was feeling or what was going on with me he'd change up on the word in supposedly trying to clarify things, and then I wouldn't know what he was talking about and we'd have this little verbal dance going.
Eventually I decided to turn things around on him. I have a pretty good vocabulary myself, so I started answering him with words that I pretty much figured he wouldn't understand, and for the most part I was correct. Now, instead of my asking him all the time what a word meant, I had him asking me what my words meant. We weren't communicating with each other at all, but mentally I felt I was getting my point across; I'm not sure if any of his co-workers picked up on it or not, but I did notice that none of them spoke to patients the way he did.
When you're working with other people, it's not supposed to turn into a competition. The idea is to get the job done as quickly and accurately as possible. If half the time is spent trying to top each other, the results can be uneven and the success questionable.
Using industry terminology when you're talking to someone in the same industry may or may not be okay in every situation. I have found through my travels that what I call one thing in New York is called something else in Nevada, and we do a back and forth until we can get on the same page. I'll also find people using terminology incorrectly in articles and, if I have the opportunity, will always debate the use of that terminology because you never know who's reading it and could get confused with what's going on.
It's possible there are times when employees compete against each other, but when that happens both parties should know it's a competition. Every other time, people need to learn how to work together towards a common business goal. Otherwise, what's the point of even saying you're trying when you're obviously not?
Mitch I know exactly what you are saying. If people use words you do not understand you are not communicating.
I do not consider myself to be the smartest man in the World, but I am perfectly capable of having an intelligent conversation.
I know many people who I can not speak to using certain words. I do not think they are slow they just were not use to hearing those words.
I have a friend currently every time I used a “big” word she would ask me to spell it.
At first it irritated me and then I started excepting her humor and using “big” words on purpose.
Good stuff Michael. The basic idea is that everyone should have a common goal, that being to make the company better. If that’s not the goal, the company suffers. I think it’s always best to make sure everyone at least has that in mind.
Mitch, I must admit that you’ve had interesting experience with this doctor, I don’t want to take a conclusion for this one, but for sure a good doctor should listen and explain things better. I agree with the point that competition isn’t a point when you try to cooperate with other, I was working for a company before where the boss was trying to stimulate competition between employees and I saw that results were terrible and team was complete destroyed after a while.
Carl, it’s not often where companies can have winners and losers and continue to work out well. Of course I always wanted to be the best at what I did, but I was more interested in helping others get better than in making myself look great.
I agree with that, Mitch but not very often the team can be perfect and often even a weak link can do the job very well with a bit of help from the rest of the team and replacement can be very difficult in some countries, but with manager that always try to stimulate competition the effect is often negative and even good workers loosing motivation.
Carl, the main thing is that we don’t set people up to fail and thus most of the time creating competition between co-workers isn’t the best thing ever. Especially on teams that are supposed to work together to get things completed; without the common goal one person could end up doing it all, and that’s never fair.
You are right Mitch, working with other shouldn’t be a competition. Sometimes, the calmer person who has the right intuition and initiative to make things right instead of making it a competition for the both of them. But then again, if it is a good competition, it is just fine as long as it is what we call a “healthy competition”.
Thanks Deanne. Competition isn’t always bad, but it depends on the goals of the company and the type of competition it is. One person trying to be better than someone else is fine, but setting up a competition which might spark behavior no one wants to see that could cause harm to the company in any way doesn’t work for anyone. And I see that sometimes when teams are put together without a directive that each person is responsible for the other’s success.