Healthy competition can be a great thing. But high levels of competitive drive at the top of an organisation need to be channelled carefully. When they are misaligned with the goals of an organisation they can create rifts within teams that can potentially destroy productivity and profits, says Paolo Moscuzza

John strutted over to the printer holding a sharp pair of scissors in his hands. He picked up the logos of his competitors and quickly started cutting them out. Taking a peek at the clock he noticed that it had just gone midnight.  Hurriedly, he picked up the blue tac and headed for the toilets located closest to where the sales force sat. He then proceeded to stick these competitor logos on the lavatory walls. He observed his own artwork briefly as he left the toilets and then grabbing his briefcase he began to exit the building. After nodding to the security guard he briskly walked to his Porsche.

As John drove off he was unable to concentrate on his driving. He was so overwhelmed by events of that day that he began muttering to himself, imagining that he was speaking to his sales force: “So you want to know the reason for the toilet logo stunt. It’s because you lot are a bunch of losers. You lot let me down. You know you never underestimate the competition. If you can’t retain one of our largest clients, a happy client at that, how can we win more major clients?”

He began accelerating as he went round the roundabout at great speed, at which point his thoughts turned to feelings about himself. “How am I going to face the rest of the board tomorrow and tell them that I can’t retain one of our best clients? How do I look at them when I tell them I failed… that I am a failure!” The traffic lights were about to turn red, so he put his foot down on the accelerator. His anger turned back to his team. “I wish I was doing appraisals with them tomorrow. They would regret their lame efforts.” At this point John clipped the pavement, so began to concentrate more on the road.

Sore losers
I coached John, who sat on the board of a global organisation, some years ago. The logos on the toilet wall event happened a few hours after he found out that his organisation had lost a competitive tender to a competitor that his sales force had ‘underestimated’. He was so angry at the time that he could not speak without exploding, hence he released his anger with the toilet décor stunt.  John never expressed his feelings to the sales team at any point about how he had felt that day nor was he interested in how they felt. He was too angry to speak about it so he demonstrated his anger through the action – one that could be read in so many different ways. Normally John, who was an extremely effective communicator, someone who could address the media and present to hundreds, could not describe his feelings about losing – he just reacted.

John completed a personality profile for me which revealed that only one in 100 people would have such extreme levels of competitiveness. This meant that he had an exceptionally strong desire to win and simply hated losing. Whilst, John’s actions may appear quite irrational, extreme, funny or superb – as his actions could be interpreted in so many ways – such extreme competitive drive which generates anger is not uncommon at executive levels.

Competitive drive analysed

Following a recent review of personality profiles, which looked at competitiveness in managers and directors, we found that directors were reporting on average over 20% higher levels of competitiveness than managers. However, competitive levels of executive teams that we have worked with were reported to be 30% higher than management teams. These high scores indicate that these individuals have a need to consistently win in whatever they do. The most extreme executive team profile I reviewed was of a subsidiary of a FTSE 100 company where in the team of five, three reported extremely high levels of scores on competitiveness and the other two were well above average. That team didn’t last long as there was major fallout between the members.

A simple explanation for why high levels of competitiveness exist at the top of organisations is that in order to fulfil their competitive drive, individuals must outperform their colleagues (or competitors). Hence you get more competitive people at the top of an organisation. This competitive drive can be demonstrated in different ways and it can impact on others in different ways. In the case of John, not winning generated rage, which tended to inhibit his ability to empathise with anyone. Ultimately he sought coaching because his rage was impacting negatively on his performance at work as people stopped telling him things. As a consequence, problems were brought to his attention through the wrong channels, after which he would explode and staff would move on. People he had described as ‘stupid’ and ‘incompetent’ joined competitors, taking away more clients with them.

Potential side effects

Competitive drive is a differentiator between people of similar intelligence, talent and skills; it is often a key ingredient within those that succeed. The key for organisations is ensuring that it is channelled appropriately and that the potential ‘side effects’ do not have a detrimental effect on others.

Some people use the term ‘fire in the belly’ to describe this competitive drive. However, it is not fire in the belly that is the problem, it is the instinctive part of the brain, which when not managed effectively derails the leader from achieving his/her goals.

For those interested in the anatomy of the brain: the Amygdala is an almond shaped group of neurons located in the medial temporal lobes of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain responsible for working memory (the memory required to complete a task or problem).

Strong levels of emotion e.g. anger can disrupt our ability to maintain working memory. Hence people are unable to think straight. In the case of the angry competitive leader, it can mean that they lose focus on what they are trying to achieve and erupt in a way that hinders the support of the people who they need in order to achieve their goals.

Many top teams are made up of competitive individuals. In these situations, ER Consultants believes that systems and processes play a key role in ensuring that they compete as one team rather than individually with each other. In the case of John above, he could not control his competitive drive, which generated huge levels of rage, which disabled him from achieving his goals.

However, there are many top teams that bring together major personalities, high levels of competitiveness and achieve phenomenal successes. That tends to happen when the structure, systems and rewards and recognition are aligned and the team dynamics click into place. You can develop what you have got, however, selecting the fit as well as the ability may greatly enhance the team’s ability to generate collective value.

ER Consultants works with organisations to help achieve extraordinary things with very capable people. Sometimes those highly capable people can under-perform in other areas of their personal style and impact, and we specialize in identifying and implementing ways of optimising the strengths and limiting the ‘side effects’. We can also help organisations channel their team’s competitive drive more effectively through a combination of structure, reward and behaviour based intervention.

So how is John doing now?
John’s performance at work is as strong as ever, however, there is a marked improvement in how his direct reports are performing. Their business performance has increased and staff turnover in sales is down by 15%. In a 360-degree feedback exercise which John completed, his direct reports who had originally described him as 52% effective at delivering through people re-rated him as 64% effective some 18 months later. John has also taken up running three mornings a week and is absolutely desperate to finish his first marathon next year in four hours.

For more information, contact

paolo.moscuzza@erconsultants.co.uk