Compete vs. Collaborate
I feel like most companies are motivated by one of two underlying principles: competition or collaboration. Sometimes this is articulated and sometimes its more subtle. I don’t believe one is inherently better or worse. But I think its wise to know which one you’re dealing with; whether it be with a client or your own employment situation. And its important to know which fits you best.
The most common one I have encountered from a corporate perspective has been a competitive environment. Perhaps that’s a very American way of approaching things - after all, capitalist markets thrive with competition. By having rivals, some companies and individuals are pushed to improve in areas they wouldn’t without outside influence. Consumers benefit by getting better pricing and new features when companies vie for their business. Marketshare grows by conquest of your competitors’ audience. There’s a lot of money to be made by the dominant company - the winner. This is a bit of an established, old-school way to operate.
From the inside, companies that encourage a competitive culture also benefit by pushing people to improve in ways they may not without that push. When your pay increases are positively impacted by beating your coworkers or outside companies, the strongest contributors tend to deliver. Those with athletic backgrounds or personalities that love competition thrive here — its very motivating to be “the best”. The downside is that it can create an environment of distrust and obstructive politics. Winning means there’s a winner and a loser. If you’re not a winner, you’re a loser on some level. That’s means part of the workforce feels superior while the rest may feel inferior. The superior group has trust in the company and their managers, the rest can become leery in general. That’s a tough thing to manage and motivate. I drive for economies of scale can result in valuing quantity over quality.
A collaborative environment is one where all parties bring different strengths to the table and are open to sharing. It requires a significant amount of trust in your partners and sometimes feels a bit risky at first. But once you do a couple projects together and everyone wins, a momentum builds. Innovation can thrive in this environment of trust. I’ve experienced this culture more in small design firms. Designers, writers and illustrators work as peers on projects, each contributing their strengths; and if they are aligned they get a great flow going. This does require a certain amount of chemistry and that can take a lot of trial and error. The individual rewards and pay may not be as high as they are in a competitive environment at the outset. But over time, the competition in these situations is between the clients — if you’re a small team with in demand skills doing quality work you can only serve so many clients. Its easier to value bill as well. This feels like more of a win/win situation. There’s a good a mount of faith required.
The world isn’t black and white of course, and I am making generalizations. I’ve been in competitive environments that expect coworkers to collaborate and even build it into goals. Maybe it is possible, but there has to be a certain level of trust to truly be successful. If the underlying company culture includes distrust of your peers there’s an internal struggle going on for colleagues. People tend to build a trusted circle of peers that they stick with and new connections take time to build. Once those alliances are set, there can be a cap on growth and innovation.
I’ve never been a big competitor — I’m not athletically gifted and I don’t really care to be “better” than anyone else. I have always believed everyone has their own kind of genius, and superiority is an illusion that divides us instead of connects us. At one point, I took up tennis for exercise and to meet people. I knew I’d never stick with it when I started feeling bad for my opponents who were so disappointed when they lost. It wasn’t that important to me to win — I just wantd to have fun. I used to see this as a weakness, but now I see it as a strength.
And there’s a strength in being a great competitor, too. One isn’t better than the other… Life isn’t really a competition…