Wanting to win’ versus “wanting to avoid losing” is a subtle yet crucial distinction; Murayama and Elliot’s (2012) set of meta-analyses found the effects of competition depend on this distinction in the minds of players. When someone wants to perform better than others, they tend to benefit from competition. But when they want to avoid performing worse than others, competing tends to reduce their performance.

Senko et al’s (2017) meta-analysis found that “wanting to win” improves the performance of participants only when it’s accompanied by strategies that support feelings of mastery. So “wanting to win” alone is not enough to inoculate players from the downsides of competitive social environments.

There are 2 principles of design to support the outcome:

1. Workplace performance is more complex than a single number on a leaderboard.
   Let’s show the major competencies that drive the performance, instead of one single number.
2. Don’t just compare yourself to others. Compare your performance against your own history!
   Let’s show the trajectory for driving competencies!

Imagine a leaderboard more like a performance dashboard where your overall performance is broken down your top competencies with your historical data points. You can see the trajectory of where you’re heading. Then, you can show the company average and top performers’ numbers on each competency. You can identify your strength and opportunities. Then, you can apply AI to give you guidance on how to change your trajectory based on top performers’ data points.