Consider collaborating instead of competing. Competition is encouraged in the workplace, especially among peers, but these practices can quickly become counter-productive when they pit team members against each other.

Lester and Sal are peers in a manufacturing company.  Lester is the sales manager, while Sal oversees production.  They emerged from a staff meeting with their boss (the President) with very different feelings.  Lester had a bounce in his step because the big deal he had closed got high praise from the boss.  Sal was offering his best impression of a statue, because the boss had come down hard him because of overtime costs.

As Lester remembered his shining moment with his boss, he realized that this big deal was going to require overtime, but that wasn’t his problem….or was it?

Lester’s ascent as sales star in the company came from his determination to take care of his customers. He could be counted on to consider his customer’s perspective, but he’d never really thought about a peer’s perspective, until he witnessed Sal’s dressing-down in the staff meeting.

Lester went to Sal. They talked about the production schedule and about the high cost of overtime.  By moving the delivery deadline out by just two days, no overtime would be required.  The two teams would be working toward the same goal, the profit would be higher, and the boss would really be happy.

This week, look at the bigger picture, and see if collaboration won’t be more effective than competition. Think about how one action you take affects the welfare of the entire team. There could be a better way to accomplish the goal – a way that lets others win while you win too.