We go to together like…

If you started singing like Danny and Sandy graduating from Rydell High you are not alone. Funny how a couple of words will do that to our minds.

Collaborate instead of compete is what I want to share this morning. I love to compete, in fact when I took the Strength Finder 2.0 quiz my number one strength was competition. As you can see below people with this strength \”measure their progress against the performance of others. The strive to win first place and revel in contest.\”

This sounds great to most people that love sports or are in sales and business because they stack rank and do other things to grow competition. It is believed that this will improve performance. It does at first.

Why collaborate instead of compete? When we compete against others they, in most cases, do not want to help us and we do not want to help them. It is very hard to get where you really want to go alone. Many people shut down and even do less in these situations. If you do win, well, it can really be lonely. Ever heard it is lonely at the top. Those people probably got there competing with everyone else.

Competition also makes you have thoughts of scarcity. Scarcity means it is limited and not everyone can have it. When you start having thoughts of scarcity you will be in a negative mindset. You begin to worry which leads to stress, anxiety and maybe even depression. People in these situations turn to medications or they do things they normally would not do to compete and stay relevant. This is what drives humans by nature to lie, cheat and steal, anything to still compete.

Collaboration seems to be the enemy of competition. You want me to work with those that compete with me at work,, in business or in life? Yes, collaboration is tied to the law of abundance. Meaning you will have a positive mindset and be in a great state of mind. When you collaborate you everyone can win.

Those that keep score or competitive are yelling at me through their phone right now. I picture them saying, \”great so everyone gets a trophy.\” No, open you mind to this for a moment. Not everyone will succeed, but more will want to help you succeed if you collaborate rather than compete.

Once I started to change my mindset around this my stress went away. There is no reason for me to win that others have to lose. I am not running a 100 meter sprint (thank goodness). If you look at most things you currently either compete in or get your teams to compete in, there is no reason everyone cannot do the same as the one that wins. Instead of making it a competition to see who can beat others, make it a collaboration to see how well you can do as a department, team, market or organization. Heck maybe even as a market sector.

How much would it help morale and turnover if the goal was to judge the entire team by the lowest performing person, group or company? What would be different? Which one would you rather work for/with?

Competition is not all bad but instead of competing with others, compete only with yourself. The old saying, if you compete with others no one will help you, if you compete with yourself everyone will. As you compete with your self make one of your goals to help others win as well. Zig Ziglar, one of my favorites always said, \”you can have anything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.\”

Like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong
Remembered forever
As shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom
Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop
That\’s the way it should be
Wah-oooh, yeah!
We\’re one of a kind