There is a major difference between good competition and bad competition. One is productive, the other counter-productive. It often happens that competitive colleagues bully the others involved because they want to be the best in the room. The others feel threatened by this and become concerned solely with defending themselves against the Alphas. Then, once the defensive mode is on, even the Alphas cannot get the others moving, according to the expertbusinessadvice.com website.
Deliver the message that you need team players
Talk to the Alphas individually and tell them they are performing extremely well; however, there is still the team to think about. Tell them that they are not as good as they could be if the others didn’t hate them for being so aggressive and that they would also be a lot more productive. The Alphas won’t feel under attack since you have already acknowledged they are outstanding performers. Also don’t foster a work environment that rewards intra-office competition. For example, you can do top seller prizes, but keep the ongoing tally private. Announce the winner only at the end of the competition. With intense competition and animosity, nothing will get done properly.
Give your staff a common goal
They already have a common desire (to be better than everyone else). So force them to rely on one another in order to be successful. If it is a question of two young marketing professionals, assign one the task of producing a slogan and the other the graphics. Then have them present their proposal together. If one fails to produce something of quality, the other also fails for not having helped: both their names will be on the product.
You can also assign the slogan to the one who is better at graphics, while the other one, who is better at slogans, will do the graphics. That way they will have to help each other if they want to be the best. Somewhere along the way they will develop a friendship or at least mutual respect.
-jk-