Strengths

Scores | Charts | Descriptions

Competition®

People especially talented in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.

Score Distribution

Shows scores for this strength across all staff.

Users with Competition strength

Theme Description

Competition is rooted in comparison. When you look at the world, you are instinctively aware of other people's performance. Their performance is the ultimate yardstick. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how worthy your intentions, if you reached your goal but did not outperform your peers, the achievement feels hollow. Like all competitors, you need other people. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, and if you can compete, you can win. And when you win, there is no feeling quite like it. You like measurement because it facilitates comparisons. You like other competitors because they invigorate you. You like contests because they must produce a winner. You particularly like contests where you know you have the inside track to be the winner. Although you are gracious to your fellow competitors and even stoic in defeat, you don't compete for the fun of competing. You compete to win. Over time you will come to avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.

Action Items

• Select work environments in which you can measure your achievements. You might never be able to discover how good you can be without competing.
• List the performance scores that can help you know where you stand every day. What scores should you pay attention to daily?
• Identify an achieving person against whom you can measure your own achievement. If there is more than one, list all the people with whom you currently compete. Without measurement, how will you know if you won?
• Take the time to celebrate your wins. In your world, there is no victory without celebration.
• Seek competitive friends.
• Try to turn ordinary tasks into competitive games. You will get more done this way.
• When you win, take the time to investigate why you won. Counterintuitively, you can learn a great deal more from a victory than from a loss.
• Design some mental strategies that can help you deal with a loss. Armed with these strategies, you will be able to move on to the next challenge much more quickly.
• Let people know that being competitive does not equate with putting other people down. Explain that you derive your satisfaction from pitting yourself against good, strong competitors and winning. It is not satisfying to outperform a "hobbled" player.

How to Manage a Person Especially Talented in the Competition Theme

• Use competitive language with this person. For example, it is a win-lose world for this person, so from his perspective, achieving a goal is winning and missing a goal is losing. When you need to engage him in planning or problem solving, use the competitive word "outsmart."
• Measure him against other people, particularly other competitive people. You may decide to post the performance records of all your people, but remember that only your competitive people will get a kick out of this public comparison. Others may resent it and be mortified by the comparison.
• Set up contests for him. Pit him against other competitors even if you have to find competitors in business units other than your own. Highly charged competitors want to compete with others who are very close to their skill level. Matching them against modest achievers will not motivate them.
• Find places where he can win. If he loses repeatedly, he may stop playing. Remember, in the contests that matter to him, he doesn't compete for the fun of competing. He competes to win.
• Consider that one of the best ways to manage him is to hire another competitive person who produces more.
• Talk about talents with him. Like all competitors, he knows that it takes talent to be a winner. Name his talents. Tell him that he needs to marshal his talents to win. Do not "Peter Principle" this person by suggesting that "winning" means getting promoted. Help him focus on winning where his true talents lie.
• When this person loses, he may need to mourn for a while. Lte him. Then quickly move him into another opportunity to win.