Managing your Talents [7] - Maximizer

According to Gallup, the essence of the talent theme of Maximizer is the following:

“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, counter-intuitively, it is more demanding."

But a talent on itself is quite meaningless unless you develop and manage it. That is why we believe that "a well managed talent becomes a strength, but a mismanaged talent becomes a detriment".

How do you manage the talent of Maximizer?


The first  management of the Maximizer talent is that you should understand your need to influence other talent.  Maximizer is an influencing talent theme, which means that part of it's energy is derived from the response it gets from other people.  In the case of Maximizer, it is a very definite response from others' potential, talent and strengths that energizes you. Because you love potential so much, and have a natural gift to sense talent in others, the whole strengths-based approach will not only be absolutely logical to you, it will be your natural way of engaging with others. 
  
How?

You should respond to this need, and get close to potential and talent. You should seek out the strong abilities and driving force in people, and get close to it. It will not only energize you, but you will add to it and make them better. You take the good, and make it great. So this means you should intentionally get close to, and connect with "good". Seek them out. Challenge them. Make them better.


A second issue in the management of this talent, is that the Maximizer Talent usually moves fast, aim high and experience impatience with people not keeping up.   Nearly all Maximizer's I know, including myself, strongly identifies with these qualities.  This means that you need to understand that you should manage the speed, the "height" and the patience levels of your maximizer talent.  Your maximizer wants to move with giant leaps, and is energized by achieving excellence.  You want to get people towards the level of excellence and achievement of their full potential, in as little time as possible, and as fast as possible.  And to top it all, you aim higher than most.   Some people might just not reach your level of excellence.  Others might not keep up with the speed you are moving.  As your maximizer feeds of the influence it has on maximizing others, you need to understand that you should strike a healthy balance between your speed and their, between your level of achievement and theirs, and between you speed, and their.  That does not mean you should suppress the maximizer and always slow down, aim lower and be patient.  This might kill you...  But, you should keep your strength in mind as a maximizer.

How?

Best is to keep your maximizer healthy by positioning it in a place where it will be challenged - by other maximizer's.  You have high standards of excellence, but there are others who aim higher than you. Get next to them.  You want to move fast, but there are others that moves faster.  Keep up with them.  You seem to have little patience, but there are others that might be frustrated with you not moving to their expectation.  Challenge your own maximizer before projecting it on others.  This is a principle that goes for the development and management of any talent theme.  Get next to your peers.

Another important principle in the management of this, is that you focus on the best qualities of those you maximize.  They might be slower, but at the same time have high standards.  Focus on that.  They might frustrate your level of patience, but realize that once they get it, they might just excel past you.  Do not project, judge and label.

Go Maximize! Your are a true impact-player. Aim high(er). Move fast(er). Have grace.


- by Dries Lombaard, founder and owner of Africanmosaic and TALENTmosaic.

Important note when reading this:  in this series, I simply focus on the specific talent in isolation.  I do not take the crucial element of Talent Dynamics (two or more talent themes combining) into consideration.  This  is very important as any Coach should take that into consideration when coaching people in their talents. But you need to understand the challenges that the talent theme on its own might hold.  Therefor the challenges in managing the talent as explained below might not be applicable to everyone, as the dynamics with some of their other talent themes might override the specific challenge and "make up for it".  But, knowledge of the most common management challenges in every talent theme still is crucial in talent development and when turning the talent into a strength.