Competition versus teamwork
By Dr. Selim Erhan, TLT Editor | TLT From the Editor February 2025
In a group, when everyone contributes from their position of expertise, the whole team propels toward a positive outcome.
We have started our new year with new projects, hopefully full of energy and full of ideas after a relaxing holiday season. Holidays are also times when we can all get together and enjoy group activities such as board games, and I am sure there was a lot of fun in friendly competition. This friendly competition energizes us, sharpens our skills and I think is very useful.
Sports is another area where there is friendly competition. I was active in sports and was lucky to have access to individual and team sports. I played water polo in the summer and fenced during the school year. Team sports and individual competitions were quite different, but both types of competitions were very educational. Competition is a tricky process, having very positive effects if done to grow skills but very destructive if done to crush, to boast, to destroy or to gain power or money. In the positive frame it can motivate us and push us to our limits to hone skills that we can use in daily life. Quick thinking, quick reflexes, strong physique, mental discipline, respect for opponents, communication with opponents—all are great skills to have when working on challenging projects.
You may be surprised to find out that martial arts are all based on understanding and communication. I heard an Aikido master say that one had to love their opponent. I was 22 and at that time it did not make any sense. But many years later when I was talking to a fencing master, it all came together. The fencing master said that the best communicators are the ones who are the most highly achieved in martial arts. These are defense and offense tactics geared toward actual fights where one who cannot understand his opponent cannot figure out what they are thinking and would usually die. That is why “loving your opponent” was so meaningful because only when you love someone you forget about yourself and totally open to the one you love. You pick up every signal, every cue! Then again, even the best who master communication will avoid a fight. The fencing master’s math logic went like this. In fencing, which is a very precise art, if A is better than B, B dies. If B is better, A dies. If both are equal, they both die. So, coming out alive from a real fight is at best a 33% chance. Who would want to fight with those odds? In fact, why would one want to fight anyway when there is so much enjoyment in working together?
Outside the positive goals, competition goes against the flow of harmony and achievement. If we think, we realize that none of us is perfect. We all have a few very strong abilities, and luckily these abilities are usually different than the ones others have in our circles or our companies. So, like parts of a clock, a race car, a plane or an orchestra, if we build teams where each position is held by one who knows that area best, that team will work in harmony, with optimum efficiency. People will enjoy being valued and respected and learn to value and respect in return. When ideas are worked on by the group, everyone contributes from their position of expertise, and the whole team propels toward a positive outcome. Evil plots, unproductive working patterns, gossip and sabotage are all easier to discover and will be discouraged by the team.
A great example of such destructive behavior can be found in nature, in cancer. Cancer cells are body cells but are misguided. They are very efficient but only work for themselves and do not communicate with the organism. In fact, they are very efficient in disrupting and isolating communication. As a result, the whole body which is designed on working in harmony starts faltering when the harmony is disrupted, and very quickly a once strong and wonderful system collapses and dies. In macro scale isn’t this what happens in some companies where a bad apple destroys the whole barrel? Anyone recall the musical Camelot? At least with an apple you can see if it is spoiled. With a person, destructive behavior is hidden inside the brain and can only be detected by their actions.
Working together and helping each other also helps us with a higher goal, where we learn from each other and become better humans. It also is evident that this is the intended way because there is so much enjoyment built into the process if people choose to better themselves, their families, their companies and their countries! I wish everyone a productive year full of harmony, peace and happiness.
Dr. Selim Erhan is director of business development for Process Oils Inc. in Trout Valley, Ill. You can reach him at serhan@processoilsinc.com.