Going Head to Head Not Accelerating Employees’ Career Growth

Are Competing, Growing Mutually Exclusive? How important is competition in developing excellent employees? And how much competition is counterproductive or even harmful? According to Investors in People, a British consulting firm, 45 percent of employees say overly competitive employees sabotage team spirit. Another 14 percent claim such behaviors breed mistrust in the workplace. About one-quarter of workers find themselves directly competing with team members. Only a fraction (about one-fifth) say competition aids career development, mainly by inspiring them to work harder to keep pace with their peers. Men (46 percent) are more likely than women (36 percent) to view competition as a staple of career growth, according to the research, which culled responses from nearly 2,000 workers.