Manager vs. Man-Eater

I am starting to read articles in which many people have expressed an opinion that due to the tougher economic times, many managers and employees are starting to compete against each other in the work environment in unhealthy ways.

“Survival of the Fittest” has always been nature’s way of adjusting to the changes in the environment. Competition can be healthy or it can be destructive and it is important that the owner or senior management team, including the HR professional, focuses on the depth in which the competition presents itself. From past experience, we know that becoming “leaner and meaner” does mean that advancement opportunities are reduced and the workload per employee usually increases causing more stress in the work environment. Do we need to add a more competitive spirit to the equation or not?

Competition is one method many managers believe that can help individuals achieve their “real” or “true” potential. I am all for helping people reach their potential since most people believe that our capacity today is less than 10%, but competition is good as long as we can see the reason for our effort. Winning a race is a goal…..improving performance should be a goal. Competition may get us to the finish line in much less time than we ever imagined. This is good because we are getting closer to our potential.

What I see in many companies is this atmosphere of “competition” with no real goal defined. This lack of vision or visualization of the determined outcome must be classified as a communication disconnect. What happens too many times is that inappropriate behavior in the workplace becomes more evident as the competitive level rises. This “survival of the fittest” mentality takes hold and all the appropriate behaviors go out the window, like feedback in a timely fashion, recognition for something well done, and other basic collaboration practices.

When will we realize that when workers feel threatened, they usually don’t improve their performance but become disgruntled and belligerent? The worker becomes disengaged, discontented, and leaves the company.

Isn’t it time to focus on how we can better understand the employee by focusing on their behavioral style and communicate the organization’s objectives to them in a manner that is consistent and realistic? People need to hear the truth, understand the strategy of the leaders, and assume responsibility for their actions relative to the plan. They then need to set goals and set out to achieve them while monitoring their progress along the way.