‘Beyond the winning and the goal,

Beyond the glory and the fame,

He feels the flame within his soul,

Born of the spirit of the game…’

https://www.success.com/competitive-greatness-isnt-about-winning/

Competitive greatness tops Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success

The last few weeks have focused on success criteria and the leadership goals which facilitate their potential achievement. We are aware of the building blocks to reach the summit of a Pyramid of Success, as set out by the late Coach John Wooden, along with his wise Lessons in Leadership. 

We hope that managers and goal setters have found this information useful in order to assess company priorities and analyse targets. We also closed last time with the idea of ‘dangling a carrot’ or keeping staff thirsty for more – now, let’s discuss this competitive vibe further…

‘Keep the race inhouse with competitors in the rearview mirror.’ (See last week’s blog)

It’s tricky enough to navigate booming markets and fierce opponents - the level of competition can feel painfully, yet invigoratingly real, keeping us all on our toes on the constant climb to the top. When leadership methods have been fine-tuned, individual needs catered for and potential optimised, then the positive energy flowing around a company breeds optimism and motivation. 

When you cruise down the necessary avenues to maximise performance, taking on new methodology, tools and initiatives, you will deservedly head up one of those frontline spots, leading your market and making competitors green with envy. More on this shortly…

Being the forerunner doesn’t mean that you’re in the clear when it comes to staying at the front of the race - being on top of your game becomes forever more essential when you don’t want to lose pole position. Providing opportunities for employees to compete amongst themselves fosters a healthy spirit of competition and wholesome level of conflict – overall, their collective efforts benefit the entire company. Wooden’s wisdom often reflected the notion that competitive greatness was not entirely centred around winning, but moreover encouraged all involved to do their best, especially when facing a challenge. 

‘I want to engage my staff in healthy competition, but where do I start?’

One of the amazing tools on offer to revolutionise sales performance management is an integrated system which covers all bases in terms of KPI’s, target setting, tracking and workable analysis. A huge feature is the ability to permanently move away from spreadsheets and white boards – this is even better when a designated organisation automatically manage your results,  allowing you to focus on other areas and engage concentration elsewhere. 

Leaders who seek to initiate competitions and challenges for individuals or teams create a fun, upbeat atmosphere, inspiring that healthy level of competition that we keep referring to – thus, increasing performance and sales results. Employees who challenge themselves and one another, may even bond through collaborative communication efforts, working towards common goals and consequently achieving the ‘collective greatness’ inspired by Wooden. 

‘What is gamification strategy and how can it help boost sales and engagement?’

The idea of adapting or adopting software applications which use gaming techniques sounds fun in itself – we don’t expect to ‘play’ at work, but why shouldn’t we? After all, performance and job satisfaction will always be higher when workers are happy and enjoying themselves – time flies when you’re having fun!

Gaming principles applied to traditionally non-gaming contexts, such as sales competitions and campaigns, not only cheer everyone up, but also motivate employees to evaluate their own and peer performance. They can compete against any one individual or a group of colleagues – once again bringing us back to the notion of everyone striving to work harder to ultimately reach universal goals as a team. 

I’m already swamped - how long does it take to set up an inhouse competition?

As always, internally developed software costs you unprecedented amounts of time and money, hence why it’s always favourable to entrust a specialised body to take your needs into their hands. In the sales world, an organisation who can visualise and act on your operational data keeps you in the driving seat. Collecting and systematically using data allows for objectives, KPI’s and results to be accessed in real-time, meaning that related competitions also run on real-time energy. 

A performance management system subsequently gives you control over specific and timely competitions, which take no time at all to set up – we’re talking minutes! Launching a new product, running a special offer or battling for bonuses has never been easier. Participants, criteria and length of  competition can all be personalised and everyone involved can be alerted through push-notifications. In fact, this function keeps everyone enthused through progress updates and countdowns to the finish line. 

Summary -  Let the Games Begin! 

There’s no getting away from it – we’ve all got far too much on our plates these days to even contemplate the expensive cost and time that surrounds internal software development, especially for the seemingly recreational motif of fun competition. However, the implementation of specialised apps to officiate the gaming characteristics of a competition, is only one of the incredible features available from sales performance management companies - the investment clearly pays for itself. 

Hooking back to today’s poetic introduction,  from ‘the spirit of the game,’ a collective response to greatness is born. A healthy level of competition increases momentum and encourages everyone’s best efforts – individual incentive and the essence of teamwork solidify a company’s foundations and ensure high standards and unrivalled success – a win-win situation for all. Dangling the carrot of an added bonus certainly won’t put anybody off trying harder and aiming higher: Set goals to get goals!

For an extra ‘push’ on your way to the top, tune in next time for our tips on successful campaigning using push-notifications.