Have you ever gone through some form of crisis, and although you wouldn’t have chosen it, you realize afterward that a lot of good still came out of it?
Teams that go through a season of crisis, for instance, may experience greater collaboration and unity, not to mention a greater degree of clarity about what matters most and what needs to be done. They may also find immediate motivation to do things they’ve been putting off, either intentionally or unintentionally.
An Alternative
But what if we could experience the benefits of a crisis — increased focus, motivation, diligence, teamwork — without actually needing to go through one. That seems like it would be ideal. And sometimes experiencing these benefits now could be instrumental in helping us avoid a true crisis in the future.
So what can be done to bring about these benefits — both short term and long term — without the necessity of an actual crisis?
One avenue I’ve seen that comes close is the use of competition. It can provide a lot of similar benefits, but is something we can utilize now, instead of being dependent on some emergency down the road.
Benefits of Competition
How does competition help?
First, it helps provide focus. In a competition, you know what you need to do to win — there’s a clear goal. Which means, if you’re going to create some form of competition, you’ll also be forced to clarify which metrics you’re going to use to keep score. As long as these metrics are connected with the things that are truly most important — the key lead measures for a business, for instance — competition can make sure these important things receive the attention they deserve.
Second, it helps provide motivation. For whatever reason, people play different when they’re keeping score. And (friendly) competition is one of those things that can help people engage in the task at hand. One key though, is that everyone should be able to quickly and easily see what the ‘score’ is. Because there’s something about seeing the score that makes most of us want to do whatever we can to make sure we don’t fall behind. This is especially true if we’re able to control what our score is.
Teams and Individuals
The competition itself doesn’t have to be team vs. team or individual vs. individual. It could be a whole team competing together to collectively hit some metric that’s been predetermined.
It could also work on a personal level, apart from a team context. In creating a new habit, for instance, the ability to add a little competition to the process can make the difference between starting and actually sticking with it.
We see this concept in Seinfeld’s famous “Don’t Break the Chain” method. He had a clear target (write one new joke per day), and a very clear scoreboard (a large wall calendar with big red Xs for each day he hit his goal). And once he began to get a chain of Xs going, there was internal motivation to keep it going. He wasn’t competing with anyone else, only himself. But the result of establishing this habit paid huge dividends in his career.
Making A Game of It
So, what areas could you or your team use a little boost in focus and motivation? Perhaps it’s time to create a little competition. Not only will doing so help you clarify what metrics are most important, but could also prove to be a catalyst for actually getting these things done. Which is a far better alternative than waiting for a crisis to hit some day down the road.