The Necessary Balance of Competition and Collaboration

In nature, in even the smallest microorganisms, there exists a delicate balance of two impulses and strategies: competition and collaboration. Competition ensures that everything keeps pushing forward, evolving and seeking new and innovative ways to expand, transform and ultimately survive. However, there is a complimentary impulse of collaboration which ensures everything shares its resources, learns from one another, and protects the whole.

In business, probably for a lot of reasons, there is an emphasis on competition. The Competitive Edge! Beat Out Your Competitors! How to Win at Business! While it is obvious why this strategy and mindset is important, we are learning more and more that we cannot ignore its companion — collaboration in the workplace.

Without a collaborative spirit, employees can feel unsafe, unsupported and guarded. Sharing information, time and resources with one another can be counterproductive if there’s no expectation of reciprocity. Jumping into meetings with a collaborative spirit will create a completely different atmosphere and experience than meetings run with a competitive one.

When people are in a competitive environment, the message is: you must be the winner. You must do better than the others. There is no failing here. More than a team, you are pitted against one another, even if it’s a subtle message. While these are valid expectations, the effect this has on teams can be ineffective and undermining. There is no space for exploration, trial and error, playfulness, and unselfconscious expression. People hunker down and certain personality types prevail while others shrink.

In my many decades of using improv to help businesses tap into a higher level of productivity and engagement, I have seen the corrective balancing that it provides over and over and over. Improv IS the balancing of these two forces, and in order to participate in the seemingly-simple improv exercises, everyone must strike the balance in themselves and in the group. Soon, people see competition and collaboration are not at odds with each other, they are two sides of a coin, two actions that can overlap together seamlessly to create a dynamic culture of being on your edge, striving to do your best AND taking care of the whole, making space for everyone’s ideas and experiences.

If you are feeling that your team is lacking in this powerful balance, you might want to look into improv to restore it. Plus, it’ll be a lot of fun.