Most of us love to watch a race. We love to see winners, losers, the eliminations. Here, in an adapted extract from their book The Innovation Race: How to change a culture to change the game, Gaia Grant and Andrew Grant talk about how competition plays out in organisations.
Arguably the concept of the ‘innovation race’ has similar foundations. Many people and organisations view the world as a competition, with innovation being the key factor in helping us to accelerate forward. Innovation is often portrayed as a cut-throat business, with competitors vying to reach and remain in the pole position in whatever ways they can.
Hackathons and innovation competitions, which are popular in organisations today, can highlight this drive to ‘beat the others’ in order to get to the front. Even on an international scale, global innovation measures focus on ranking countries, which appears to sort them into winners and losers.
But does this competitive focus come at a cost?
A competitive focus can literally ‘drain the brain’. Competition requires additional mental resources that can impact decision making and opportunities for constructive cooperation.
Read the full article published on Human Resources Media Online here >
