I promised myself after last week I’d stop inserting little March Madness plugs into my blogs — instead, I’ve decided to write an entire blog on the subject. Trust me, this should be the last one. However, by a show of hands, can I see who has picked the University of Louisville or the University of Kentucky to win the NCAA National Championship?
OK, good enough. Can I get another show of hands of people that are tired of hearing about the “Civil War” that is raging in Kentucky at this moment? Are you tired of hearing about how the University of Kentucky could probably beat the Toronto Raptors? I heard this on ESPN while at the gym today — not making it up!
If you didn’t know, Club Solutions Magazine is located in Louisville, Ky. And, until recently this great city was known for bourbon and fast horses — the University of Louisville is just a minor draw to the city. However, a couple of years ago they did build one of the coolest arenas in all of college hoops to overlook the Ohio River — which has begun a revitalization of Louisville’s Downtown.
Down the road, the University of Kentucky, only a few 75 miles away, also has horses, but as far as a draw … well, that’s about it. Unless you have a love for college basketball — then you either love the University of Kentucky, or you hate them.
I hate to stride away from my point too far with all the hoops talk, but what we have this week is a rivalry. A small bit of competition that puts one school against another — one fan against another — one family member against another. Our office isn’t what you would call split. Here in Louisville we have one UK graduate and one UofL graduate (but actually, two fans). This creates animosity among the group that we must deal with. One team must win, and regardless if you make a pact not to rub it in the other person’s face, it’s guaranteed that there will be some slight passive aggressive comments — the other side will, of course, say they would never make those comments (losers have that ability). Regardless, the truth is, rivalries can be good for people, and can be great for business.
How often do your employees experience competition? In media we see competition every day. But, because of such competition, it galvanizes our employees against the opposition. Rarely at Club Solutions Magazine are we in competition against one another — but good healthy competition is needed in the work place.
Competition is one of the most natural human instincts. We learn from an early age to want to win and how badly if feels to be on the losing side. No one wants to be the last kid picked at recess for kickball and no one wants to be cut from their middle school cheer-leading squad, basketball team, football team or academic team. Being cut is negative, and negativity is something we strive against.
In your club, how do you transition negativity into positivity? In college basketball, there will always be next year. Whoever wins the game on Saturday between the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville — they will always have next year. It’s that mentality that “we’ll get you next year” that inspires people to do better. At your club, how do you use this type of healthy competition to do better?
Do you need some new ideas for growth in your club?
How about each week at the company meeting you ask half the employees in attendance to bring a new idea. Use the half that didn’t bring ideas to vote on that week’s great idea. Implement the idea and either take that employee to dinner or give them a gift card to take that special someone in their life to dinner. Next week, switch halves and repeat the system. This pushes people to work harder. It creates competition between your employees. It doesn’t mean they will kill each other — this isn’t The Hunger Games — they will strictly learn to push themselves to be greater than their peers.
This week, it’s what the state of Kentucky is learning. We are learning to be greater fans, greater opponents and, hopefully by Saturday evening, some will learn how to be greater losers that can strive for redemption next season. Push your employees to strive for redemption, greatness and success in the weeks to come with a little healthy competition.
Tyler Montgomery is the Editor of Club Solutions Magazine. Contact him at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
