Dealing with an Unhealthy Competition Among Employees
It’s a good thing to have a little competition at work. It challenges some of your employees to do a great job. It leads to more productivity and quality results. The problem is that it can also go way over the top. Some of them end up being too aggressive, and it becomes an unhealthy fight.
You know it’s no longer healthy when your employees start to gossip about each other or tear each other down. The office becomes a toxic environment for everyone. As a leader, you have to do something about it.
Confront these employees
There’s no better way to deal with the problem than by immediately talking to the people involved. You can’t let them continue that attitude on the workplace since it could also affect everyone else. Ask them why they have to be too competitive. Understanding the motivation can help you deal with the problem.
Change your attitude too
The reason why people are competitive could also be because of you. As a leader, you give the employees plenty of opportunities to fight against each other. You promote a lot of competitions. You also reward those who did a great job with a fascinating prize. You might even try to put people against each other. This environment promotes competition. You shouldn’t wonder why everyone starts to hate each other. Encourage collaboration instead of competition.
Be a fair leader
The reason why some employees end up pulling each other down is that it’s the only way for them to be above the others. As a leader, you don’t necessarily see what’s going on behind the scenes. You don’t know who among your employees are working really hard. Worse, you only rely on the information you obtain through gossips in determining who performed well. Considering how unfair your judgment process is, it’s easy for your employees to attack each other. They know that it’s not hard work that gets them on top, but propaganda.
Don’t designate a spy
Although it’s not an official role, there’s someone at work you deem to be your spy. You ask that person to report to you everything that’s going on. Instead of seeing the process yourself, you rely on the information obtained from one person in determining who did a great job among your employees. Even if your employees didn’t know about it, your information is still one-sided. You need to be there to see the reality instead of only relying on such information. The worst part is when your employees discover this scheme. They will lose trust in you as a leader.
The competitiveness at work can also be a result of your actions as a leader. Therefore, you have to be conscious in deciding what to do so that you can maintain productivity without letting your employees hate each other just to gain your attention.
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2nd image https://www.studentbrands.co.za/employment/career-guidance/11-tips-great-leader/
