We were all told, “Be good, share your toys” and many of you probably say this all the time to your kids. But, how often do you hear this advice in your business? And I’m not talking about sharing your marketing information with your customers or sharing your latest accomplishments with your boss. How about sharing your potential business with your competitors? Does this make you cringe? It is counter-intuitive but if you really want to grow your business then sharing customers may be the best thing you can do.
And if you want to move up in an organization then sharing information and the “lime-light” with a peer is one of the best things you can do. “Huh; what about competing and winning, who ever heard of a race where you let a competitor win?”
In terms of sport metaphors, some of the best basketball players give away the ball to their peers to make the big shots. Consider that you will grow your reputation with customers and peers if you do the same. If a customer would be better served by someone else then send them that way and they will love you for it and look for ways to send other business your way. And your competition will look for ways to share with you if they’re smart.
Over and over again in my corporate career I saw people passed over for promotions because of their poor reputation with their peers. If you make the people around you look good and help them be successful by sharing then your chances of moving up increase significantly.
One of the most sharing groups I have become involved in is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). It is so important to have the right coach and most coaches understand this very well and will quickly refer a person if they are the wrong fit. Even more impressive, a lot of coaches will “talk up” their peers to potential clients and suggest they consult with them even when they feel that they may be losing a potential client. This was a shift for me coming out of a competitive corporate environment where we had many meetings discussing how to beat the competition.
Recently, this was reinforced by an ICF peer who shared her interesting project with me. In turn, I suggested another peer who may be qualified. I had a twinge of concern in doing this, “am I potentially giving away this great opportunity?” but then that worry quickly left and was replaced with the joy in sharing “my toy”; I know in the end everyone will benefit through our sharing.
How do you share? Is sharing with your competition or peers supported or possible in your current environment? Please share in a comment.
photo credit: Miguel Ramirez