People strong in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

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

More about Maximizer:

• • Needs on a team: To achieve excellence
  • As a Leader: To focus on strengths
    
  • In Conflict: Seek to improve
  • Partner with: Restorative (solve problems)
  • In academics: 

    – loves strengths and excellence – likes courses taught by profs whose teaching style matches their learning style – enjoys elective courses where they can develop new talents and strengths – likes to mentor or tutor others – enjoys working with faculty and tends to seek out mentors to learn from

• Overall, Maximizer ranks 19th, occurring in around 13% of the population’s Top Five (11% of Females and 13% of Males)

23	19	30	18

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

• most likely to appear with Strategic and Achiever
• least likely to be found with Restorative or Command

At your best (Balcony):

• mastery, success, excellence, working with the best

At your worst (Basement):

• perfectionist, picky, never good enough, always reworking

Maximizer may be one of your signature themes if…

•  You strive for excellence in all that you do.
  • You like taking strong to superb, rather than working with the average or lackluster.
  • You are captivated by strengths – both inside yourself and in others.
  • You seek to surround yourself with other winners and people who admire your strengths.
  • You avoid “fixer-uppers” or people who want to offer you solutions.
  • You are attracted to others who have discovered and cultivated their strengths.
  • You are a gifted communicator who thrives on personal interaction with others.
  • Source: Let’s Talk Personality

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

Excellence, not average, is your measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling. Strengths, whether yours or someone else’s, fascinate you. Like a diver after pearls, you search them out, watching for the telltale signs of a strength. A glimpse of untutored excellence, rapid learning, a skill mastered without recourse to steps — all these are clues that a strength may be in play. And having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. You polish the pearl until it shines. This natural sorting of strengths means that others see you as discriminating. You choose to spend time with people who appreciate your particular strengths. Likewise, you are attracted to others who seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths. You tend to avoid those who want to fix you and make you well rounded. You don’t want to spend your life bemoaning what you lack. Rather, you want to capitalize on the gifts with which you are blessed. It’s more fun. It’s more productive. And, counterintuitively, it is more demanding.

Action Items for This Theme

• Seek roles in which you are helping other people succeed. In coaching, managing, mentoring, or teaching roles, your focus on strengths will prove particularly beneficial to others. For example, because most people find it difficult to describe what they do best, start by arming them with vivid descriptions.
• Devise ways to measure your performance and the performance of your colleagues. These measures will help you spot strengths, because the best way to identify a strength is to look for sustained levels of excellent performance.
• Once you have identified your own strengths, stay focused on them. Refine your skills.
• Acquire new knowledge. Practice. Keep working toward mastery in a few areas.
• Develop a plan to use your strengths outside of work. In doing so, consider how your strengths relate to the mission in your life, and how they might benefit your family or the community.
• Study success. Deliberately spend time with people who have discovered their strengths. The more you understand how marshaling strengths leads to success, the more likely you will be to create success in your own life.

Be ready to:

• Make your weaknesses irrelevant. For example, find a partner, devise a support system, or use one of your stronger themes to compensate for one of your weaker ones.
• Explain to others why you spend more time building on strengths rather than fixing weaknesses. Initially, they might confuse what you are doing with complacency.
  • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

Go deeper

A fantastic website with insightful discussion of Maximizer 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

Podcast episodes to help you understand and leverage your Maximizer Strength

• Episode 1: Optimizing Performance and Potential – “The Tim Ferriss Show”
• Episode 2: Strategies for Maximizing Results – “The Tony Robbins Podcast”
• Episode 3: Excelling in Your Strengths – “The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes”
• Episode 4: The Art of Perfectionism – “The Art of Charm”
• Episode 5: Unlocking Your Full Potential – “The Brendon Show”
• Episode 6: Strategies for Excelling in Your Strengths as a Woman – “The Strong Women Podcast” (Host: Meghan Murphy)
• Episode 7: Leveraging Your Strengths to Maximize Success – “The She Did It Her Way” (Host: Amanda Boleyn)

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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Sources:

• Balconies and Basements
• Leadership, team and conflict
• The Genius and Beauty of Strengths
• Strengths-based academic Advising
• Strengths partnerships