I was doing a strengths workshop for a class of 13 year olds, and part of it required them to complete writing an assignment which the school had requested for. Knowing that one of the girls had the Competing Theme (The StrengthsFinder “Competition” equivalent in StrengthsExplorer), I thought I try motivating her by getting her to complete with her classmate to see who can complete it faster.
Her reply was very interesting: “But he’s already written so much, how to win??!” And promptly continued at her own pace. It was in no way a leisurely pace as all the students there were highly motivated already, but I didn’t hit my objective of getting her to go even faster.
What happened here?
People with the Competition Theme have a high need to win. Winning is (probably) everything to the person depending on what other themes the person has. To motivate someone with the Competition Theme, we not only need to help them identify a competition and competitor, the environment and circumstances must be such that the person believes he or she has a chance of winning.
Depending on the maturity of the theme, people with high Competition may only choose to engage in activities in which they believe they can win! To help drive them to higher heights, one good way is to help expand their beliefs in what is possible, and also learn to manage their own emotions when they don’t win.
