This is part of a series of articles on the different types of strengths that each of us as individuals have. You can take a look at the ACHIEVER strength that I discussed in the first post in the series.
Everyone is born with talents. Talents are our natural way of thinking, feeling and behaving that can be productively applied. When we invest and develop our talents, they then become strengths. A strength is the ability to consistently do an activity to near perfection. It is about the WAY we achieve success, and all of us have a ‘way.’
There is an assessment called Strengths Finder, and it takes about 45 minutes to do online, answering various questions. Once you are done, it then sends you a strength report. There are 34 strengths in total, and the assessment calculates your most dominant strengths from number 1 to number 34 in sequence of their dominance. You choose whether you want the report of your full 34 or just your dominant first 5 strengths.
In this Issue we are going to look at the strength of COMPETITION.
“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 may feel hollow. You like to win. You like other competitors because they invigorate you.” Tom Rath, StrengthsFinder 2.0.
My second daughter has Competition in her top 5. She loves to win. It is being measured against a measurable that motivates her to push and do better. People with Competition as a strength need something, or someone to do better than. A level or record to be broken, or something someone said they can’t do. All this is fuel for her. During the lockdown she taught herself the basics of gymnastics, and the more we tell her there are no gymnastic schools in Zimbabwe, the more she perseveres, comparing herself with the girls she watches on YouTube.
At school she was the youngest and smallest in the hockey first team. Her coaches love her belief of winning no matter the odds. Her siblings have had to understand that it’s not about her wanting to put them down and humiliate them. She is naturally wired to try and do better than the measurables around her. Time and experience is teaching her she can’t win all the time…but there will be a next time. The drive to win will never leave her, so she has to accept it as the strength that it is which pushes her to work harder and think smarter.
People with this strength help their teams be aware of competitor performance, so that they always have a slight edge.
In the next Issue, we will look at the strength of Connectedness.
Joyce Mutangara is a wife, mother, pastor, legal adviser and strengths coach. She loves to give inspiring personal interaction, through authentic discussion, and exploration of talents that motivate people to achieve optimum performance through intentionally deploying their strengths. For more information or access to her work and to get personal strengths coaching, you can email her: joycemut@gmail.com or visit her blog Joyce’s Blog.
