Healthy competition isn’t bad. In a society where people believe everyone is a winner, the fact remains, there are those that finish somewhere after first place. There really aren’t healthy ways to reward everyone for simply showing up. Once you reduce winning to simply a participation award, you miss the reason for personal growth; we miss the reason why we need to further develope our skills.
To compete or collaborate is an either-or proposition not both-and To compete is to challenge personal growth. Healthy competition moves those from the back of the pack to the front of the pack, or at least stretch their abilities beyond their expectations. After all, usually we compete because of an inner discipline and dream to accomplish more and reach beyond ourselves than what we thought we could.
What if what you are competing against is actually from the very group you should collaborate with? To collaborate is to be more effective and to reduce the duplication of services. Organizations that compete usually are defined by a market that they are trying to win but in the areas of social service, we are fixing an injustice or helping those less fortunate in our community. Those who collaborate are attempting to change the outcome of a social injustice. At least that’s what I’ve learned over the years of serving in community organizations.
I spent most of my career, one way or another, in the ministry of the local church but often, along the way I found myself as a community organizer and fully engaged in the neighborhood where I lived. I was trained to be a pastor but the occupational hazard meant that I was also a social worker, a probation officer, a person who cried out when injustice occurred, and someone who was close to those in crisis. Every community I ever lived in I built for myself a directory of sorts, a list of services and organizations that I can direct people to whatever they needed help with. I was never the expert but as I often told people, I was one begger showing another begger where to find bread.
When I was a court appointed special advocate, guardian ad litem and when I was a probation officer, I discovered that I needed help to solve the many crises that people faced. I would write down the names and numbers of people and professionals who could help with whatever they were dealing with from early pregnancy, social services, food pantries, counseling services, and others who I felt could lend a hand when the needs were beyond my own reach. I served on committees and boards where we talked about how we could work together instead of competing because we all shared a common set of values and a community interest to help others. We strove to better our community. I found a spirit of cooperation, mostly.
Of course, there were those who wanted to do go it alone; striving on their own. There were those who didn’t quite understand that we needed each other. On occasion, we would find that there were organizations that simply did not know who others were but were simply lending a helping hand. One of those examples was when I served as Director of Love INC, an organization we called "Love Clearinghouse". With over 90 partnering churches we found that each one brought their skills together to form a network of cooperative and collaborative ministries. We discovered that together we actually provided more services and expertise. Some churches provide food pantries. However, if multiple churches did the same thing, families weren’t getting the holistic help they needed but they were simply getting more cans of soup. Our goal was to minimize the number of duplicated services so that services could meet more needs; all services were provided by the community of faith which gave a collective witness of God’s love. We also offered a centralized management of resources where we could steward the benevolence of the church and even verify the needs we served. When agencies and organizations of similar values begin to compete with each other, it causes confusion at minimum. It caused unhealthy dynamics of mid-trust at its worst.
I now serve an organization that recruits foster homes. With over 20,000 children in out-of-home placement in Indiana, there’s plenty of need to go around. Is there a shortage of homes that would cause us to want to compete? I can understand that there are several organizations recruiting foster homes. Each may have certain distinctives in the way they raise money and how they administrate services but their objectives may be the same. It’s always encouraging to see the spirit of cooperation because, quite frankly, as many organizations that are out there recruiting foster homes, the need is beyond all of us. Are we in competition or is the shared value of a social injustice or community need to help vulnerable children and youth the real competition? Should we not join forces to compete against those forces rather than one another?
One day I went out into the community to meet with one of our partnering churches and came upon this startling reality. One agency, who does the very same thing we do decide to place their yard sign directly in front of ours. Not next to it or along the same block so that both are visible but right in front of the sign we had already placed in the lawn. This was one of our active partnering churches. It was simple fix. All I had to do was move my sign over three feet so that both could share the space and enjoy equal promotion. I thought to myself, why not give people a choice? Seems simple enough to me but then I saw it again, and again. It made me question, why are we fighting for space in a shared ministry opportunity.
I shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve seen this sort of thing before. I’ve seen it when churches who compete for people to attend. While we both believe that people should be in church we tend to find ourselves competing. Instead of talking about the distinctives that make us unique or the "services" we offer, we find ourselves competing with those of similar values.
I do believe that healthy competition raises the standards for everyone but when we compete against shared values or objectives, than we may be doing more than just competing; we may in fact, be missing the point all together. We may be spending vital resources fighting against the very core of what we believe.
I’m certain, like I’ve never been before, that each one of us fit into the grander scheme of all things. Each one brings their own talents and strengths, yet together we are able to accomplish more than we ever could alone.
There’s so much that divides us today. I love healthy debate and even conflict because it can help bring a greater understanding of our full potential. Civil debate is necessary if we are to grow. My friend said this remarkable thing to me once regarding politics.
We need to put more effort into winning the human race instead of the political race. - Maureen
Society is only able to sustain itself because of reciprocity; the exchange of positive values. Healthy values equal a healthy society.
For Christians and other communities of faith who believe in the biblical value of the golden rule; do unto others as you would have them do unto you, we practice according to the rules of, "do no wrong." We believe that no matter what is reciprocated we should be willing to love and demonstrate respect to anyone, just as we would want for ourselves.
I contend therefore that in social service organizations we cannot have both competition and collaboration. They cannot co-exist. We have to decide which value we should embrace.
As my sons have often reminded me that in Track & Field events, they did not compete against their fellow team-mates nor against the opponents of a tournament meet. They would say, "We strive to better ourselves and in doing this, we better everyone else."
