Attention to Give

Last week we talked about how a mindset of generosity can positively impact your team’s energy at work in Part 1 of our series, Give a Little Bit. I received feedback suggesting my theory worked in a perfect world. Since none of us live in that branch of the multiverse, let’s discuss how being generous with your attention helps you both stand out and earn respect in a workplace filled with competition.

Some organizations intentionally set their employees up to compete against one another to drive job performance. (I’m lookin’ at you, Sales.) While ambition can be motivating, too much competition can create a limited mindset. For example, this research ?supports my theory that when you feel like the only way you win is when someone else loses, that is a limited mindset. If you have an unlimited mindset, then you believe your talent and hard work will produce growth; not only for yourself, but also for your team and organization. If you choose creating value over playing a zero-sum game, then you are generous. Your initiative produces innovation, opportunities, and a big payoff for everyone involved. Generosity, cooperation, and mutual growth become your strategies, and they set you apart in a competitive work environment.

Try Coopetition

Keeping tabs on your coworkers isn’t a bad idea. It can help you understand how to bring more value to your role and inspire you to up your game. But one-upping your coworkers can get toxic fast. Instead, focus on assisting your competition to achieve their part of the organization's mission by cooperating with them. I like to call that “coopetition”. In this case, generosity is about sharing credit, knowledge, and encouragement. When you’re generous, you create a reputation for being reliable, approachable, and self-assured. People respect those who support others. Here are a couple of suggestions.

Shift the Attention: The next time you achieve a success, publicly acknowledge everyone who played a part. This expands the spotlight to shine on the team rather than just you. It makes you look both gracious and confident. You can do this in an email to your manager and the company’s leadership and copy the team.

Share Knowledge Regularly: Make a habit of sharing resources, insights, or tips that could help others succeed. When a coworker sees you aren’t holding back to stay ahead, it increases their trust in you.

Be the Advantage

The way to outshine your competition is by choosing collaboration over rivalry. In highly competitive workplaces, everyone is vying for attention individually. Standing out by being a team player when others are focused on personal recognition signals your strong leadership. While others focus on showing why they’re better than their peers, you are the one who knows how to leverage the strengths of everyone around you. For example, Take the initiative to propose projects that benefit multiple people or departments. By setting up opportunities for others to succeed alongside you, you create positive exposure for yourself while enlisting allies across teams. Generosity helps you build a brand that will last longer than any competitive win. Experiment with coopetition and let me know what happens.

How has generously giving attention to your coworkers differentiated you from your competition?