It will come as no surprise that a team of Olympic-level athletes is made up of highly competitive individuals. This competitive drive is what propels them to be the best in the world. But in the wrong environment, that same drive can spark conflict, erode trust, and pull energy away from the team’s true objective.
At our core, human beings have a deep, evolutionary need to belong. This instinct dates back to our earliest days—when not being part of a tribe often meant death from starvation, exposure, or the claws of a roaming sabre-toothed tiger. Belonging is safety. Belonging is survival.
In high-performance environments, psychological safety—the belief that you can speak up, fail, or succeed without fear of judgement—is essential. It creates the conditions in which individuals and teams perform at their best.
A team culture that prioritises performance above all else, however, risks becoming hierarchical and egocentric. In such environments, athletes who bring home medals—especially gold—sit at the top, while others sink to the bottom. This dynamic creates a fragile social structure that hinges entirely on outcomes.
A culture like this mistakenly over-prioritises strategy and under-prioritises values. Strategy is what we aim to achieve. Values are how we choose to get there. Athletes understand this deeply—we don’t focus on the result, we focus on the process. And a strong, values-driven team culture reflects that same wisdom.
Some people are familiar with the term schadenfreude—taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune. This mindset thrives in performance-only cultures. It erodes trust, inhibits collaboration, and shuts down knowledge sharing. When individuals fear losing their status, they protect their insights and guard their success like a hen shields her chicks. In this culture, victories are hoarded and failure is socially punishing.
Its lesser-known opposite, freudenfreude—taking joy in someone else’s success—is what high-performing teams should aim to cultivate. Freudenfreude builds resilience, increases individual satisfaction, and fosters greater cooperation. It aligns competitive instinct outward, toward common goals, rather than inward against teammates.
Where schadenfreude is rooted in ego protection and social status anxiety, freudenfreude stems from shared purpose. It acknowledges that people should be valued for who they are, not just what they achieve. When we feel safe, when our place in the group is secure, we can genuinely celebrate our teammate’s victories. We recognise that their success does not threaten ours—rather, it lifts the team as a whole.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate exceptional performances—of course we should. But success should not alter the social hierarchy of a team. At the Tokyo Olympic Games, for example – Australia’s most successful Olympic swim team ever - we continued to give out awards for top performances. But we also recognised athletes with awards like "Best Cheerleader," "Biggest Personal Best," and "Most Supportive Teammate." These moments acknowledged contributions that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, yet were vital to the team's cohesion and morale.
Celebrating shared effort satisfies a fundamental human need. Prioritising strategy over values might offer quick wins for individuals—but long-term, sustained success comes from a values-driven culture. The best return on investment comes from understanding your team’s values, and ensuring they are being lived, seen, and felt every day.
