# Competition Without Rules Is Destructive

Source: https://www.yegor256.com/2015/10/13/competition-without-rules.html

When your team has to choose which technical decision to make,
who has the final say? When one of your colleagues asks
for a raise, who decides, and what is his or her decision based on?
When it's necessary to work overtime, how is it decided
who will stay in the [office]({% pst 2015/oct/2015-10-06-how-to-be-good-office-slave %})?
I'm expecting you to shrug your shoulders. You're right, these questions never
have explicit answers in modern organizations. We are used to working
in a more "[democratic]({% pst 2014/oct/2014-10-12-who-is-software-architect %})"
way, where such decisions are made
_subjectively_ by managers or more senior employees.
Is this how it should be?


{% jb_picture_body %}

We are trying to _avoid explicitness_ in these sensitive subjects. Indeed,
how can we tell Jeff that his salary is lower than
Monica's because his performance is worse?
This will definitely lead to depression and negativity
within the team, right?

What I'm trying to say is that _we don't set rules_. We think that
strict and explicit rules related to performance
offend creative people. Well, all people.

We avoid explicitness in performance appraisals.

And this is [totally wrong]({% pst 2020/jun/2020-06-23-individual-performance-metrics %})!

This is a _mistake_, and it causes big problems!

{% quote Competition is inevitable in a group, especially if the group consists of creative people %}

When a group doesn't have explicitly defined principles of
survival and growth, it starts to create them _naturally_. When
people don't know what exactly needs to be done in order to get
a 15 percent raise, they find a way to get this information anyway. And guess what
this information will end up being? Right---you have
[to make your boss happy]({% pst 2015/jan/2015-01-26-happy-boss-false-objective %});
that's how your chances for a raise improve.

Instead of working toward the goals set by the organization,
we are fighting with each other for the attention of our boss.
Instead of focusing on the results and their quality, we
are reading the mood of our
[manager]({% pst 2015/sep/2015-09-22-micromanagement %}). Our fear becomes a guide for us.

Competition is _inevitable_ in a group, especially if the group consists
of creative people. Creativity is all about
competition, as was [demonstrated](https://voxeu.org/article/effects-competition-creative-production)
by Daniel P. Gross. Each of us
wants to be better than the others, and this is what drives _innovation_.
But if the team has no rules, even a minor competition seriously
and negatively affects their motivation.

If you want your team to be creative and productive, clearly and explicitly
define the rules of competition. Make sure everyone can get clear and
straightforward answers at any time to questions like these:

  * Who is the best developer on our team?

  * Why is my salary lower than Jeff's?

  * What do I need to do in order to get a raise?

  * Under what conditions will I be [fired]({% pst 2015/sep/2015-09-16-how-to-fire-someone-right %})?

Can you ask these questions in your team and easily
get explicit answers?