Healthy Competition 101

I met with my interns the day before they went for their final interview.   I had each of them close their eyes and draw 3 horizontal lines across a blank sheet of 8.5x11 paper creating 4 distinct sections.  I then asked them to answer 1 of these 4 questions within each section:

1. Why would I promote you?
2. What scared you most about your internship?
3. Why would I work for you?
4. Who are you?

There were no stipulations except that they had to fill whatever space they had. I stepped out of the room and gave them a few minutes to write their answers.  One they finished I began to randomly call them out in groups of 2 or 4.  I would ask the newly formed groups one of the 4 questions and in turn they would slowly they give life to the scribbles on the paper by reading them aloud.  After each group finished reading I would pose one of the following probing questions relating back to the original 4:

1. So who gets the job?
2. Who's fear scared you the most?
3. Who would you trust your career development to?
4. Who becomes your confidant? 

At first, group-think took over as they unabashedly claimed "oh gosh that's hard, I would hire everyone!" Fortunately it soon dissipated, and second guessing became second nature as they realized that real choices were about to be made.  Excuses like "well you didn't tell us we'd be reading them out loud!" were met with responses like "how does that change your answer?" and quickly obliterated.   

For the first time I was asking them to look beyond the camaraderie and view each other as competition.  I think that scared them...and I could care less.  Turns out 7 of the 9 interns will receive offers to come on board full time.  The other 2 will be referred to this post (I kid. I kid.)

Call me an outlier, but I'm a member GenY that never received a 14th place trophy.  As a result, I love a good dose of competition.  I love being surrounded by real people who are doing really great things because it motivates me more than any amount of commas on a check could ever do.  Not in a pepper-spray-in-your-pageant-dress kind of way, but in a healthy "you-should-be-doing-this-but-better" kind of way.

The main difference between healthy competition and the other kind of competition is healthy competition has an ulterior motive that goes beyond just selecting a winner.  Healthy competition incites you out of a complacency and false sense of greatness that's usually caused by previous undeserved recognition and hooray's.  It's a reality check like no other. 

Recently I found out I got passed up for an opportunity I really wanted.  I've been looked over for it before but this time was different.  This time felt personal and I'm really starting to feel some kind of way about it.  See that's the other thing about healthy competition; sometimes it can even renew an oft underrated, yet value-added trait: being pissed the hell off!

Comments

[Tiffany]

Isn't it crazy when you try so hard, and come so far but in the end it doesn't seem to matter?

I really liked the way you challenged your interns though and made them realize that work is not about being friends and having lunch together every day. Comraderie is such a wonderful excuse to not do your hardest but to simply stay complacent with what the crowd is doing; staying out of the radar. It's much easier to find a common ground and go with it but in the corporate world, your differences are what matter most.

[Gen]

I think that's a fantastic idea. In addition to fueling healthy competition, I think that feedback from peers can be incredibly useful since they often spend more time in direct contact with you than your superiors. Well done!