Why Your Meritocracy Isn’t Working.
Internal Competition Drives Toxic Behaviors
The idea of a workplace meritocracy sounds great. If you perform, you succeed. Privilege and politics don’t factor into the equation. The hardest workers and best performers get ahead while those less dedicated do not.
In theory, meritocracies work well. Reality, however, is a different story.
I used to work with a company that prized itself on being a meritocracy. The best ideas won, and you got there through rigorous debate. Results were the top priority, and you didn’t let bureaucratic processes hold you back from making progress. If you wanted to advance, you needed to develop new ideas and demonstrate your contribution. Those who couldn’t do this found themselves sidelined or out of a job.
It’s easy to see the positives. Everyone knew the expectations. Performance drove advancement. The best ideas and the hardest workers triumphed.
The meritocracy was a success. Until, of course, it wasn’t.
Consider the process of developing new ideas. Meetings were a battleground to advance your project and kill anything that might compete with it. Resources for someone else, by definition, meant less for you. In that zero-sum mindset, support and encouragement were nonexistent. All that mattered was selling your agenda.
