Understanding and Investing in Your Maximizer Talent

On this Theme Thursday Season 4 webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Maximizer.

People exceptionally talented 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. Maximizers see talents and strengths in others, usually before anyone else does. Strengths -- whether their own or someone else's -- fascinate them. Maximizers love to help others become excited about their potential. They have the capacity to see what people do best and which jobs they will be good at. They can see how people's talents match the tasks that must be completed. Excellence, not average, is their measure and pursuit. They have a quality orientation that leads them to focus on areas of strength for themselves and others and to manage around weakness.

If Maximizer is one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this week through the following challenge items:

• Focus your improvement energy on the future. Who could be your best replacement? Spend time with them and specifically tell them what they do well.
• Fine-tune your community wellbeing: List all the groups/audiences that you identify with. Prioritize the 3 where you can have the greatest influence for success. (Naming this is HUGE. Bonus if you can take action to spend more time there and less time elsewhere.)
• Add one more measurement to your work. What can you rate/rank/sort this week? This practice, and the habit it can form, will help you more quickly spot strength and also explain it to others.

Challenge for everyone:

• Stretch one of your current goals. Don't have a goal right now? Look at the next 10 days and list what you have to do. Then pick one of those items you will enjoy most. How will you know when it's achieved? Now how can you do it slightly better?

If Maximizer is not one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this week through the following challenge items:

• Define the objective measures that indicate completion to you. Is it when a product works? When you check all the boxes? When a student asks you for help rather than being told what to do?
• Which themes lead you to quality? (Building stronger relationships, working faster, trying a higher challenge) What behaviors can others see when these are engaged?