Competition

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

 

You can tell a person strong in Competition by these attributes (source: Dr. Hulme, APU):

  • Wants to excel, to win
  • Tend to compare self to others
  • Pushes self and others to be the best
  • Good at selecting venues where they can excel and achieve
  •  Performance-oriented

More about Competition:

    • Needs on a team: To be the best
    • As a Leader: Want to be the best
    • In Conflict: Need to win
    • Partner with: NONE LISTED
    • In academics: 

      – loves to be the best – this student enjoys courses where they are compared to others – grading on the curve, posting grades by ID, or otherwise letting students know where they stand in comparison to others in the class appeals to them – may enjoy speech classes, classes where they can debate, or courses where they can rack up extra credit points – will want to choose courses where they can not only be successful, but be at the top of the class—especially if it’s a difficult class

Where does Competition Theme rank in the population?

  • Overall, Competition ranks 27th, occurring in around 11% of the population’s Top Five (6% of Females and 16% of Males)

30

 27

16

11

Out of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, it’s statistically:

  • most likely to appear with Achiever and Strategic
  • least likely to be found with Contentedness or Developr

The genius of your Competition talent begins with the tremendous energy, drive and determination within you. You want to succeed. You demand success for yourself and you measure that success in terms of where you stand in comparison to others.For you, second place is sometimes seen as another word for “loser”. But the drive to win, succeed and achieve isn’t focused on you alone. This can be a basis for leadership and impacting the lives of others. First, your “win attitude” is a model for others. Second,your competition is often turned into being a source of inspiration for others. And finally, you can use your competition talent to stimulate others to strive for higher levels of performance and productivity. You are someone who grabs the attention of others and they begin to believe that they too can achieve.

At your best (Balcony):

  • driven, motivated, number one, measurement-oriented, winner

At your worst (Basement):

  • sore loser, not a team player, puts down others, self-centered, confrontational

Competition may be one of your signature themes if…

  • • You judge people by their performance and can’t help but compare them to yourself.
    • You feel achievement when you’ve outperformed your peers.
    • You need others to compare yourself against.
    • You love the feeling of winning and enjoy contests.
    • You are invigorated by other competitors.
    • You will avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

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 for This Theme

  • 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.

Be ready to:

  • 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.
    • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.
For the more visually inclined:

A fantastic website with insightful discussion of Competition, including

  • Building your brand through this strengths
  • Strengthening your performance at work
  • Tips for managing someone with this strengths
  • Partnering with someone with this strength

Competition Power and Edge takes an interesting approach highlight not just what the strength is and how it shows up if you have it in your top five, but also how to navigate the world when this strengths is one of your lesser ones.

More ideas on going deeper:

THEME INSIGHTS:

  • I am (Being) ———-> Aware of my competitors
  • I will (Doing) ———-> Strive to win
  • I Bring (Contribution) ———-> An aspiration to be the best
  • I need (Requirement) ———-> Peers for comparison and motivation
  • I love (Value) —————> A chance to go against the best
  • I Hate (Value) —————> Coming in second
  • Metaphor/Image ———-> No consolation prizes —— the gold medal is the only medal
  • Barrier Label ———-> Sore loser

THEME CONTRAST:

  • COMPETITION: When I watch others perform, I get better.
  • SIGNIFICANCE: When others watch me perform, I get better——————————————————————————————
  • COMPETITION: The scoreboard measures my progress and validates victory
  • ANALYTICAL: Data quantify experience and validate theories.
More from Gallup:
Gallup’s Called to Coach is an excellent podcast series exploring the Competition  strengthsfinder theme in detail over several seasons:

 

 

Podcast episodes to help you understand and leverage your Competition Strength

  • Episode 1: Embracing Competition as a Driving Force – “The Tony Robbins Podcast”
  • Episode 2: Strategies for Winning in Competitive Environments – “The Tim Ferriss Show”
  • Episode 3: Leveraging Competition for Growth – “The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes”
  • Episode 4: The Psychology of Competition – “The Science of Success”
  • Episode 5: Excelling in Competitive Fields – “The High-Performing Student Podcast”
  • Episode 6: Excelling in Competitive Environments as a Woman – “The Women’s Leadership Podcast” (Host: Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin)
  • Episode 7: Women in Leadership: Embracing Healthy Competition – “Women Taking the Lead” (Host: Jodi Flynn)

Listen to great Strengths Podcasts

  • Theme addicts is a series created by UnleashStrengths to highlight the massive impact the StrengthsFinder assessment through interviews and discussions.
  • Lead through your strengths features many interesting guests and Career Q and A about leverage your strengths at work.
  • Maximize Your Strengths features interviews and discussion on developing your strengths. She really drills into each of the themes by interviewing real people on how a specific theme shows up in their lives.
  • Called to Coach is a webcast resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world.
  • ISOGO TV promises a lot: So dramatically increase your energy and decrease your frustration at work, that you cannot help but take the Strengths paradigm home to your family. Fueling life-changing stories.
  • The True Strength Podcast by Ian Pettigrew (Kingfisher Coaching) features inspiring true stories of how people succeed through applying their strengths and being resilient. It often includes a Gallup StrengthsFinder profile.
  • If you are looking to identify and develop your strengths and talents, take calculated risks and make decisions, The Strengths Revolution with Steve Morgan will help your personal development, as well as helping you support your clients, employees, teams and wider organisations. Knowing your strengths will also support positive risk-taking and decision making as part of good risk management.

 

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