How to Work With a Competitive Person

competitive people

There's this "innate motivating factor" (IMF) in some people that's called Competition. We all know what that is, but it's much deeper in the context of Giftedness and here's why with some extremely helpful tips.

Defining the Competition IMF

People with the Competition IMF are natural magnets toward challenge for the sake of being the winner. They thrive when pivoted up against another person or system. It's a repeating theme in their life's most satisfying stories. Everything we know about Giftedness shows that this is and can be a good thing!

Competing is the number one thing that gets their blood moving and they thrive in positions where there is a lot of performance-based competition. It doesn't even matter what they're competing against, they're just excited to be in competition and often rise above their competitor.

And that's beautiful in and of itself. These people often perform very well in sales (where the numbers are their competition) or athletics (where they get to compete equally with others & themselves).

Tip #1:

You want these people in Sales!

Sales doesn't fix everything, but they are a non-negotiable imperative to the success of a company. People with Competition IMF are great at simplifying processes so that they can move quickly and moving quickly is their one of their best tactics to winning. Put these people in Sales, but reconsider them being in something like HR where slow-moving processes and people management is highly nuanced and complex. They might move too fast and run over another person.

Tip #2:

Figure out which of your colleagues has Competition in their giftedness

These people might say things like:

"You're over-complicating this -- it's really either ___(A)___ or ___(B)___" and they continue to paint a picture with only two options, though that might not be the full truth.

"Let's keep going" in a meeting even when deeper conversation and solutions are still needed.

They can tend to approach almost any group activity as a contest. An ideal work environment will encourage rivalries. You can discover if your colleague truly has Competition in their blood by asking them to list out their favorite memories or accomplishments and seeing if there is a recurring "competitor" in all of their stories. Better yet, you can email hi@giftednessgroup.com to figure out the innate motivations for each of your employees for you!

Tip #3:

If this is your boss, then just say, "Okay"

Competition people don't jive well with complex answers and can easily misinterpret them as unnecessary, often leaving others feeling discouraged. If they are in an authoritative position, they love just hearing a simple, "Okay," or "Copy that," and then you both go about your ways.

You will not win them over to a fireside chat about your ideas. They are too busy trying to move to another step (which is symbolic of success to them).

Because people are complex creatures, Competition doesn't normally work well in management positions where long-term or deep coaching of others is a necessary part of the job. They would struggle with managing, motivating, or counseling others where it takes a lot of time to discern intangible, slow-moving concepts. In other words, people are not numbers.

Though these people shouldn't be highly responsible for managing a large group of other workers, they do excel when helping others in two types of outlets:

1. When others ask them for tips and advice (so long as the question is short, simple, and you don't challenge their answer)
   

2. These people often can handle managing one other person very well, an administrative assistant of sorts. That works wonderfully since their relationship is a clear hierarchy with only delegation to be had, not challenging ideas.

Please remember that this post is isolating Competition. On rare occasion, there are exceptions to the above when Competition is integrated with another giftedness factor, such as one who's gifted with Impact, Progress, or Plan and Produce.

Are you someone who is competitive yet in charge of others? Email us today for a consultation on how The Giftedness Group® can help you and your team achieve better communication, performance, and everyone getting to stay in their lane of excellence.