Good Sportsmanship In Business

Good Sportsmanship In Business
Success is not GIVEN it is EARNED.
By Nathan Jamail

If a person has ever played sports growing up, they heard that one of the most important parts of being in sports is to have good sportsmanship. Many adults now say the same thing to their own kids. Why is it that in sports players must have good sportsmanship, even the little 5 and 6 year old groups, yet in business, leaders don’t require the same behavior or maturity from their employees? One example in particular is when it comes to friendly competition within an organization. There is a trend in leadership books that says internal competition is ‘bad and unhealthy’ for a organization’s culture. This is the same principle that has removed all of the competitive aspects away from competition in little league sports. Just like in little league sports when the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies are replaced with “participation trophies”, the  that desire the sense of achievement leave the game feeling diminished. There is also a conflict of desire at the corporate level; on one hand we want to eliminate competition, yet at the same time there are many leaders that find that a competitive spirit is an attribute they want in a new hire or leaders of their organization (the desire to fight for first place).

The key to keeping employees motivated is to have a sense of purpose, and for many professionals that purpose or value is fueled by some form of a competitive mindset. In business, like in little league sports, participation awards are a sure recipe for mediocrity. In order for a an organization to have great success with a competitive spirit that fires the employees up, creates a desire to achieve greater results and pushes each other out of their comfort zone- is to have internal competition with good sportsmanship. Good sportsmanship in business does not allow team mates to accuse each other of cheating, does not resent those doing better and does make others feel less than when they win. Good sportsmanship in business is when an individual uses that challenge to make them more disciplined in order to be more successful. They use the success of others as fuel. Good sportsmanship is absolutely key in business- just as much as in sports. Here are 3 things a leader can do in business to make sure their employees have good sportsmanship:

1. Understand what good sportsmanship is in business.
2. Mandate good sportsmanship.
3. Don’t let those with bad sportsmanship dictate your competitive culture.

What is good sportsmanship in business?
That competitive spirit in people is key to a person pushing themselves further everyday. That sense of drive and the deep desire to win. One might say that everybody has it, just some have lost the fire because somewhere along the way they started believing they were not capable or worthy of winning or achieving some goal; since they don’t feel they are capable or worthy they are hurt or insulted by the competitive environment. Good sportsmanship is not just about contests and company incentives. This competitive spirit or good sportsmanship effects how many live their lives.

There are people out there that resent other people because they have a lot of wealth or have achieved great success. To resent someone or say they are cheaters or did not earn it or anything negative about them because they have success is just “BAD” sportsmanship (and just dumb and unproductive). In life, like in business, good sportsmanship means to honor those that have earned or received great success. Strive to learn from them and their success, not to hate them and belittle their success. It also means to assume the best, not the worst. Don’t just assume someone cheated, assume they did great and find out how you can too. Having good sportsmanship can not only help the health of an organization, but it can help the health of the individual.

Good sportsmanship means to strive for greatness, to strive to be the best, to never give-up and most importantly to celebrate the victories- those that are victors no matter if it is us or our peers. When we lose, we don’t get mad with envy or jealousy, rather we get mad with a fuel that makes us want to try harder and be better next time. Winning is great whether we are 5 years old or 65 years old. Have good sportsmanship because winning matters!

Make good sportsmanship a requirement.
Many leaders struggle with “is competition good or bad”? The real issue not the competition; rather it is the players and their intentions. If a leader likes their employees to be competitive and strive to win, they must implement the same principle that professional sports teams implement- “Good Sportsmanship”. A leaders must mandate that as an employee or teammate- we must be able to do the following:

1. Not be offended by other’s success.
2. Assume no one cheats.
3. Strive to learn from others success and not resent it.
4. The team is more important than the individuals.

The key to making good sportsmanship a requirement is to make it an expectation in the beginning and help all people understand the intent. Like in sports, the teams that have the highest level of sportsmanship have the highest level of success and the same is true in business. Please know- the leaders can be just as guilty of bad sportsmanship as team members. Some leaders show bad sportsmanship by using the competitive spirit to belittle others or pit employees against each other. The competitive spirit, like many emotional drivers for people, can be the greatest motivator or the greatest inhibitor. It is up to the leader to set the stage for great sportsmanship.

Don’t let those with bad sportsmanship dictate your competitive culture.
One of the greatest mistakes leaders in business today make, is they allow the attitudes and actions of some of employees remove the great rewards or activities of others. This happens in company events and in many cases it effects the simple day to day incentives or awards leaders will offer their employees.

There was a leader that had an awesome no cost reward system that motivated many of the employees. It was as simple as a bell mounted on the wall. The rule was simple; every time a sales person closed a sale, or a customer service person saved a client’s business, they would run up and ring the bell. It gave the individual a quick sense of achievement and gave their peers and  bosses a chance to recognize them. This program was ended after several months because there were 2 employees who were offended that they never got to ring the bell. To save the feelings of the 2 individuals that did not have good sportsmanship, the leaders killed a really exciting and great reward system. This is what happens when leaders do not teach and mandate good sportsmanship.

Final Thoughts:
If my 6 year-old daughter gets upset because she loses a race or because someone in her class  gets an award, we pull her aside and explain to her what good sportsmanship is – in her terms of course. We are teaching our children young, what it means to win, and what it means to cheer someone else on for their win while at the same time fueling our own desire to win. I find it troubling that we have higher standards of behaviors and beliefs for our children than we do for our adult employees. No one earns a participation ribbon- they are given. I believe that good sportsmanship is good for our children, athletes and yes, even in business. Mandate good sportsmanship and good results and behaviors will follow!