How to Deal With Competitive Work Colleagues
There’s nothing like the thrill of competing with your work nemesis to bring out your best performance. Without someone to chase and outperform, would you be as motivated? A little friendly competition never hurt anyone, right? But when a rivalry goes too far, you need to know how to deal with competitive work colleagues.
An international poll conducted by Monster found that nearly 50% of respondents have either left a job because of a workplace rivalry or considered leaving. These respondents reported reduced job performance, undue stress, getting into trouble with management, and even job loss as a direct result of workplace rivalries.
The reality is you may eventually find yourself in a similar predicament where healthy competition takes a turn for the worst. The good news: There are steps you can take to alleviate the tension. This is how to deal with competitive work colleagues before it’s too late.
Be Direct With Your Rival
If you feel like your coworker is taking the competition to extremes, it’s time to intervene. It’s important to communicate directly with the person, but to do so in a private conversation. The last thing you want is a public, heated argument, so ask the person to grab coffee to talk.
When you have the conversation, it’s important to be direct and stick to the facts. Why? Many people are unaware they’re doing something that’s distressing others, until someone points it out. And once you point it out, they might try to correct you.
Try giving specific examples, such as, “I noticed you turned in that report without my name on it. We worked on it together, so I wanted to know why you did that.” Or there’s: “In the meeting, you kept using the word ‘I’ to discuss the ideas we came up with as a group. I’m not sure if you are aware you were doing that, but it didn’t feel fair to me.”
You can also explain to your coworker why their behavior bothers you. If you’re an active listener and hear them out, you might be able to find a solution.
Shift the Focus to You
Healthy competition takes a wrong turn when you and your coworkers start focusing on hindering each other, rather than focusing on bringing out the best in yourselves. After you’ve confronted your coworker, try to maintain boundaries to avoid getting drawn into the toxicity.
Part of understanding how to deal with competitive work colleagues is learning to cut those people out of the equation entirely and shift the focus on competing with yourself. Instead of trying to undermine your coworker, focus on how to perform in a way that helps move the company forward. Ultimately, that’s a better strategy for boosting your career.
Ask Your Manager for Guidance
When it comes to conflict between coworkers, managers don’t want to get involved and value people who can problem-solve on their own—that should always be your first move. But, if dealing directly with the person isn’t working and you’ve tried to avoid them and focus on your tasks, you shouldn’t be afraid to report the situation to your supervisor—just approach it as means for guidance, rather than a chance to tattle.
Go to them with specific instances where you felt wrongly hindered by your competitive colleague. When speaking with your manager, focus on how this distraction is getting in the way of you doing your work, rather than how you feel you’re being treated unfairly. Once your boss is aware of the problem, he or she can help mitigate the issue and watch things more closely.
Move On
You know how to deal with competitive work colleagues, but if the effort is too draining on you, consider getting a new job (with new coworkers) and starting fresh. Need some help? Create a free profile on Monster. We can send you job alerts and more tips to speed up the process.