Why Competition in the Workplace Kills Communication

Editor’s note: This essay sits within the Cultivated library on communication, teams, and alignment. Competition is examined as a force that silences truth and fractures systems, while cooperation enables clarity and collective performance.

Why Competition in the Workplace Kills Communication

I’m competitive.
Give me a basketball, a go-kart, or even a pair of adjacent ATMs and I’m in race mode.

With myself, too. I set high standards and like to win.

At work?
Zero competition between teams, departments, or functions.

Games and friendly challenges are fine.
Internal rivalry is not.

Why Competition Breeds Silence

Competition changes how people speak.

When your “competitor” sits in the same meeting, facts soften. Opinions sharpen. People hide problems, deflect responsibility, and hoard information.

I once worked in a company obsessed with “crushing the competition.” Strategy was reactive. Products were copies. Pricing raced downward. We became defined by others, not ourselves.

As Paul Hawken put it:

We’re not in competition with other businesses; we’re here to offer something others don’t.

Inside organisations, competitive language is everywhere: rankings, league tables, perks, “best team” narratives. Leaders assume competition creates urgency and performance.

Often, it creates silence.

The Impact on Teams

Internal competition is uniquely damaging because everything is connected.

When one team optimises for itself, others absorb the consequences.
When something breaks, someone else fixes it.
When a metric is gamed, decisions degrade.

Competition encourages:

• Hiding failures
• Softening bad news
• Attacking other teams in meetings
• Fabricating or massaging numbers
• Shooting down good ideas

The result is poor decisions, wasted energy, and “watermelon reporting” — green on the outside, red inside.

The Case for Cooperation

High-performing organisations optimise for cooperation, not rivalry.

That means:

• Shared outcomes — everyone knows the target and how they contribute
• Aligned incentives — rewards tied to collective success
• Clear roles and responsibilities — no ambiguity about ownership
• Active correction of sabotaging behaviour — competitive gamesmanship is addressed

When cooperation is real, behaviour shifts:

• People ask for help
• Honest updates replace polished narratives
• Ideas flow across boundaries
• Problems surface early

Communication becomes an asset, not a liability.

What Research Shows

Studies consistently show that internal competitive climates increase stress, political behaviour, and misalignment.
Managerial incentives tied to narrow metrics can encourage mistreatment and information distortion.

Competition inside a system creates local wins and global losses.

A Simple Approach

If you want clarity and performance:

• Paint a compelling future
• Align everyone around shared outcomes
• Design incentives for collective success
• Force cooperation where silos persist
• Focus relentlessly on customer value

Do this and:

• Information flows
• Problems surface early
• Decisions improve
• Teams move faster

The Takeaway

Compete with yourself.
Cooperate with your colleagues.

Internal competition promises urgency and performance.
It often delivers silence, distortion, and distrust.

Cooperation, shared purpose, and aligned outcomes create real energy — and real results.

Stop competing internally.
Start cooperating deliberately.

Bibliography

Nikiforakis, N., Oechssler, J., Shah, A., 2019. Managerial bonuses and subordinate mistreatment. European Economic Review 119, 509–525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2019.07.017

Fletcher, T.D., Major, D.A., Davis, D.D., 2008. The interactive relationship of competitive climate and trait competitiveness with workplace attitudes, stress, and performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior 29, 899–922. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.503