Through the Eyes of An Intern: A Perspective on Gaming and CliftonStrengths

Reflections | Personal | 8 Minutes Read

If you’re a gamer, you’ve probably felt this before: it’s a holiday afternoon where you’re in your element – gaming.

Your eyes are glued to the screen as you furiously mash the buttons, careful not to make a single misstep that would cost you your game. You are this close to overcoming this challenging round…

And then… “Game Over.”

You put down your controller and sigh. You were so close.

But instead of giving up, you feel energized. You are ready to go at it again.

If you think about it, gaming experiences like these have something in common with the strengths-based approach, the principle behind CliftonStrengths (aka StrengthsFinder).

But before I go on, allow me to set a bit of context: 

A game needs to have just the right amount of challenge for it to be enjoyable. Too easy, and players will grow bored quickly. Too difficult, and it can frustrate players and make them “rage quit”.

As such, game designers often seek to find the perfect sweet spot to design games with just the right amount of difficulty.

Let’s talk about how game difficulty is adjusted. Game developers are known to utilize several methods to do this. 

One of which is by giving the player a “handicap”. While player handicaps come in many forms, the handicap that I find especially interesting is this mechanic known as restrictive movement controls. This is where game developers deliberately make it difficult to control a character. Simply getting a character to move under restrictive controls would likely result in slow and clunky movements. Such game mechanics are more common in games in the horror genre as it creates a heightened sense of panic and helplessness when a character is unable to escape from a threat quickly.

How I Connected CliftonStrengths and Games

When you play a game in the virtual world with restrictive controls, it feels similar to the real world in areas where you fail to tap on your natural strengths in your work. While you can definitely get things done, it feels unnatural and you constantly feel like you cannot perform at your very best. 

Sure, some players do enjoy playing games with exceptionally restrictive controls simply because they enjoy an added challenge. (One gamer even beat the notoriously difficult action roleplay game “Dark Souls 3” even though he replaced his video game control buttons with bananas!)

However, as fun as restrictive controls might be in some realms of gaming, the real world should not be about imposing limits on someone’s potential. Rather, the real world should focus on tapping into our natural strengths and maximizing them so that we can be the best version of ourselves at work.

Here’s how StrengthsFinder comes into play.

It introduces the strengths-based approach that encourages us to focus on strengths instead of being obsessed with our weaknesses. Focusing and exercising our strengths is contradictory to the concept of playing a game with handicapped controls.

Here’s what gaming feels like in the context of StrengthsFinder:

It’s like playing a challenging game where your in-game character draws from their strengths and special abilities to overcome the obstacles at each level.

This got me thinking about how we can translate this to the area of work.

If we were all characters in a game, what “special abilities” can we draw from to present the best version of ourselves at work? How would it change our output and outlook?

For one, we would be able to achieve so much more if we intentionally focused on our strengths and managed our weaknesses. Truth be told, we’d probably feel so much more alive and energized doing so.

Even our outlook towards failure would very likely change.

Challenges would no longer faze us. Instead, they’d excite and energize us. We would eagerly anticipate the added difficulty that each new challenge brings and think of it as an opportunity rather than viewing it in fear at the possibility of failure.

These “mindset shifts” helped me see my own work experiences in a new light and how I can contribute to my future career with my own StrengthsFinder results.

How I Can “Game My Way” Through Work

When I sat down to think about what work experiences came most naturally to me after going through various internship placements and having served National Service, I realized that they all have a common factor:

They were all related to people.

In fact, CliftonStrengths illustrated this when the StrengthsFinder assessment showed that most of my top strengths fall under the Relationship Building domain. 

You need me to facilitate conversations among a group of youths? My Individualization theme would kick into gear by first identifying the unique traits of each person, before tailoring my questions and approach accordingly.

You need me to welcome a new recruit who just posted into our unit? You’d have to say no more. Because my Includer theme would see me naturally jumping at the chance to welcome someone new into our group.

You need me to make last-minute changes to a meticulously planned event because the majority of the team tested positive for COVID-19 a day before? Not kidding, that really happened. Despite the immense pressure of making immediate decisions, my Adaptability theme thrived in heat-of-the-moment situations like these.

Closing Thoughts

Here’s what I’ve realised about myself.

Being able to forge genuine relationships with people energizes me. Engaging people in meaningful ways makes me come alive.

I’ve often found myself yearning to do more people-centric work and I’d naturally take the initiative to grow in these areas of work.

Are there aspects of relationship building that I find challenging? Definitely. But each challenge fills me with renewed energy and excitement. 

That’s for me. How about you?

What is it that makes you come alive when at work? 

If you haven't already, I would strongly recommend taking the CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) Assessment to find out why you think, feel and behave while at work. If you already know your top talent themes, try thinking of how you can utilize these strengths at work to get the most fulfilling (and fun!) experiences in your day-to-day work.

After all, if we can find ourselves enjoying a good game every once in a while, what’s to stop us from enjoying our everyday work in the same way?

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WRITTEN BY LIM TING WEI

Ting Wei is an intern and trainer at Strengths School. He is passionate about investing in the development of others and believes that the process of growth can be both fun and fruitful. As a natural relationship builder, he enjoys using the power of storytelling to help people identify teachable moments through the stories in their lives.

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