Travisthetrout's Blog

Competition: good for the soul? September 12, 2011

I was standing on my doorstep for a couple of hours yesterday  cheering on the people running (and walking) the half marathon here in Bristol. My partner was one of those runners, as he ran past he thanked me for supporting him. A few work colleagues also huffed and puffed by – determined not to be beaten my their colleague  (and I assume other local law firms).

Now personally I do not have the physical fitness to run a half marathon (or a 10K) although I have been challenged to do a 10K and the half marathon next year, a challenge I may take up as I refuse to allow people to tell me I can’t do something.

Surprisingly for an aspiring solicitor I am not competitive (or at least I don’t think I am). Some colleagues and friends are obviously competitive. Their competitiveness shines out of them. People run scared. You know the type. This can from time to time cause friction in the workplace, a slight unease, but overall, competitiveness is encouraged.

and it should be.

Competition between individuals, encourages more work. Competition between firms encourages a higher standard of work.

Being competitive forces us to do better and offer a better service. I also firmly believe in building relationships and working together towards the common good. The outcome: all these networking events and joint ventures that our firms put us through. Working together will get us farther than working apart.

Competitiveness in the work force is a large part of what drives our team forward. Clients often instruct two firms to keep us competitive. We compete on standard of work, meeting deadlines and costs. A classic example in my job: we have until close of business to send the report to the client, but can we see if we can get it out this morning?

The promise of more work certainly drives the average solicitor, even those of us who are not competitive – the result – a better service for the clients, a much more stressful day for the paralegal.