In what is now a time-honoured tradition of journeying to Murrayfield with friends to watch Scotland, this time a win(!) (fairly spectacularly, I might add) against Wales in a great Six Nations fixture. Witnessing Scotland winning twice on the trot, having seen them pip England (I know from the Scottish contingent “thrashed”) at Twickenham, it was a great atmosphere from the anthems onwards into the wee hours of the night. Okay, the Scots have latterly been brought down to earth in Paris by the French, but the Scottish team have excelled and are much improved compared to previous seasons.

I don’t have the time or the word count to outline the many reasons why I and so many fans come back time and time again to enjoy the sport (nor do I think it would make for a particularly interesting read!) but I do want to focus on just one of them: the competition. Scotland have lifted their game to meet the improving standards of international rugby and their competitors.

Competition is a driver behind sportsmen and teams to reach the top of the tree, a standard of excellence that is being raised as witnessed not only in rugby but cycling, tennis, netball, athletics or swimming, to name but a few. The same is true in the business world.

Our competitors provide the motivation for us to maintain and improve our service or products for our clients or customers. We should not fear failure on occasion whilst we endeavour to improve, because when we fail we learn, thereby adapt and implement new ideas, techniques and processes to generate better outcomes. As a result, our workplaces should be environments of a vibrant and collaborative nature to become a working environment of choice and thereby aiding people retention – a key feature in this day and age to your people strategy.

Even though we are working to outperform our competitors, we must thank them as they generate our innovation and desire for improvement. I certainly am grateful to my competitors and for an excellent Six Nations Championship which whets the appetite for the World Cup in France this autumn.

 

Rej Abraham, Sarah Torrington, Matt Byrne, Alex Handford