People with strong Maximizer talents are at their best when they are pushing for excellence in all they do.

Maximizer® for Leaders

A theme in the Influencing domain of CliftonStrengths

You focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. You seek to transform something strong into something superb.

You focus on doing things correctly and develop others to do the same. Whether it’s a project launch, a conversation or a problem to solve, you start with the belief that all actions and reactions must lead to quality decision-making. You can’t imagine yourself or your people doing something that is just good enough because you’re committed to doing things with excellence every time.
The teams you lead are well-equipped and successful. Why? Because you use resources, talent, timelines and processes effectively. A need to continually move toward excellence is necessary, and you establish a high level of quality for those who join your organisation. You are never careless about selecting the right individuals for the job and always ensure they have what they need to succeed.
As a leader, you easily set the tone for high-quality work for those you lead and have high expectations of them. To you, optimising inefficiencies means constantly trying to get the most out of opportunities. You are an expert at developing others into leaders, and you make your desire for excellence part of that development.

One of your jobs as a leader is clearly communicating your expectations, but you may struggle with this. You know you want others to meet your expectations, and while it might be easy for you to see what you want, the way you share those requirements could be confusing. Make sure you don’t criticise people for not being as successful as you think they should be if you weren’t clear enough about it from the start.
Those who don’t share your drive to constantly achieve high quality might feel exhausted. Some tasks must be done quickly and efficiently, which means there may not always be time for them to be flawless. Others might believe that they don’t need to focus on precision in every situation, and when you can’t prioritise what deserves the most attention, they can get frustrated and tired.
You might overpraise those who have similar standards of excellence as you and underpraise those who don’t. This could cause those who focus less on precision to believe they might never meet your standard of excellence. While your intention is to help people progress, they may feel like they are a disappointment or that you don’t appreciate their efforts.

Define excellence for your organisation. Explain your vision of great performance to others, and be open to hearing their definition of it as well. Find language that makes sense to everyone to help you describe what you believe represents excellence. They are more likely to come close to meeting expectations when they understand your perspective.
Recognise success based on individual strengths. Take time to appreciate individual outcomes, and celebrate when people reach their goals. Communicate what you believe others have done well, and encourage them to continue to exceed expectations. Acknowledging them in this way builds trust and encourages people to develop their strengths.
Prioritise goals based on their level of importance. You are great at estimating where you will get the best return on your time investment. Use this to understand what does and doesn’t need your attention on the final product. As a leader, where is the best area to spend your time? When you want to work on minor tasks, ask yourself, “Is this where I should focus?”
Think of mistakes as opportunities to develop. Talk to people when you see failures and successes. Help them understand exactly what you expect and why. Determine what you want them to do differently and continue to refine and build on. Continuous encouragement helps others work toward long-term success.

Source: Gallup®

Back to Maximizer® Page