I learned that:
Winners get the rewards.
Winners get a bounce of confidence.
Winners are more encouraged to work harder because they believe they will see results from their efforts.
My junior high gym teachers (as we used to call them) tried to instill in us that winning was important, that winning made you a better person, and that winning made you mentally stronger. We were a fueled group giving it everything we had to win whatever we played in gym class.
I also remember the day a new gym teacher touring the schools of the district came to our class. He taught us the game of Earth Ball. It was a huge ball we bounced around between the kids and the object was to keep it from hitting the floor. We all asked, "But how do you win?" With a great big smile he told us there were no winners and losers just the joy of playing with the ball was reward enough. Huh?
He could've said it in Japanese and we would've understood it just as well. By the end of the hour of playing Earth Ball the vast majority of us lost interest, we had no desire to ever play that game again and we were thankful he was there only one day. We kept asking over and over, "What's the point?"
We are turning our schools and places of employment into Earth Ball. Because we are so focused on not creating losers at anything, we are losing the winners in the process. If everyone gets a passing grade, if everyone gets the same pay, if every time there is disparity we take from the winners to give to the losers, people are going to quickly start asking, "What's the point?"
If you want to create an organization of growth that is going to improve and become more successful you MUST reward your winners so they will stay and you must send the losers to find a different game to play where they can win. Not everyone is meant to win in every game they play that’s why most successful people find the areas they can excel at and then focus their efforts on building that success.
If we remove all the incentives, rewards and joy of winning we lose the confidence, desire and drive within the organization. Think about it. Do you want people going through the motions to fill the time like Earth Ball, or do you want people driven for success? If you fall into the mind trap of trying to create a system where everyone is a winner, the cold slap of reality is that everyone becomes losers, because you take away the rewards for making the extra effort to win.
Bottom line with winners come losers. Whether you are competing across the street, across the country or across the world, to grow your company you have to want to win with every fiber of your being.
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