How to Improve Your Wellbeing With Maximizer®

Below are audio and video plus a transcript of the conversation, including time stamps.

Your CliftonStrengths^® can empower the 5 elements of your wellbeing -- career, social, financial, community and physical. But how does this happen if you are struggling in one or more of these elements? If you have Maximizer, Appendix 1 of Gallup's Wellbeing at Work book has Strengths Insights and Action Items that can move you from struggling to thriving as you apply your Maximizer talent to fuel your wellbeing. Join Jaclynn Robinson and Jim Collison on this CliftonStrengths Podcast to discover how.

Maximizers tend to have an intuitive sense of their potential, and they exercise it to bring forth that highest return on investment for the role they're in, the hobbies and interests they pursue.

Jaclynn Robinson, 1:35

Identify the parts of your role that fulfill you the most and look for opportunities to do them more often. And share that out with your manager and colleagues, so that they can also continue to find those opportunities for you.

Jaclynn Robinson, 10:54

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and welcome to the CliftonStrengths Podcast. On this podcast, we'll be covering topics such as wellbeing, teamwork, professional development and more. Now enjoy this episode.

Jim Collison 0:10
In this CliftonStrengths Podcast, we'll look at the Strengths Insight and Action Planning items from Appendix 1 in the Gallup book Wellbeing at Work one theme at a time, and today's theme is Maximizer. If you're listening live, join us in the chat room. There's a link right above me, right up there, that you can join us in the chat. If you have questions after the fact, you can always send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Dr. Jaclynn Robinson is our host today. She works as a Gallup Learning and Development Consultant and was the primary contributor in Appendix 1 or for Appendix 1 in the Wellbeing at Work book. And Jaclynn, always great to be with you, even on an early morning. Welcome back!

Jaclynn Robinson 0:48
Thank you!

What's the definition of Maximizer?

Jim Collison 0:50
We, let's dive in. This is a theme we've gotten -- it's gotten a lot of run. So I think we've got a lot of things to say today. Let's, let's, but how do we define Maximizer?

Jaclynn Robinson 1:00
We define Maximizer as a focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

Jim Collison 1:11
Yeah, in, in my case, something strong into something more. Like I, I can't do one; I got to do five. I can't eat just two cookies; I have to eat them all. So let's just be really clear about that. When we look at this, when, when we look at Maximizer, let's talk about how it relates to you and how it might relate to others.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:33
If I think about how it relates to you, Maximizers tend to have an intuitive sense of their potential, and they exercise it to bring forth that highest return on investment for the role they're in, the hobbies and interests they pursue. Whatever it might be, they just have this natural sense of, This is what I'm great at; let me continue to cultivate it. How it relates to others: People appreciate that Maximizers spot their potential and encourage them to pursue those, those natural talents. And they would even really thrive when they're working with high performers, where they can take their talents from great to world-class.

Jim Collison 2:10
I love that. When, in my 40s, I started running, and I ran a 10k. And then I thought, Oh, I could probably run a half marathon. So I ran a half marathon. I probably could run a marathon. Then I ran a marathon; then I ran five. Like that's, that's the Maximizer progression for me. It's never enough, right? It's always like, Oh, we could do. And it, I always say I think Maximizer has both a quality and a quantity component. Right. And I think oftentimes we focus on the quality piece. But I think that the quantity gets to the quality, because it's one of those things, right, that gets us this opportunity to do more, to be more efficient, to be more effective -- to get more done, in that case.

Jaclynn Robinson 2:53
Yes. And I'm glad you called that out, too, because we do focus a lot on quality. But --

Jim Collison 2:58
Yeah, we do.

Jaclynn Robinson 2:59
We're always polishing, constantly just polishing and making it better and better and better.

How does Maximizer look when it's thriving vs. struggling?

Jim Collison 3:04
Well, and I was the, the drive was, was a time; like I was running for a time. To get better -- that's a quality. But it took quantity to get there. It took the practice; it took the effort; it took the repetition to do it, right. I had to stay in the game. I had to stay consistent. I had to, boy, I have flashbacks from those, from the -- my wife says she was a marathon widower during those days -- pretty crazy. Well, it was, it was -- listen, we're talking about wellbeing and thriving versus struggling. But that was a good, that was good for my wellbeing during those times -- to stay fit, to push, be pushing towards a goal, being a really, really healthy culture -- you know, the running culture can be a healthy culture. When we think about Maximizer, that, so that, was that was for me. When we think about it striving -- when we think it about thriving versus struggling, what do those two look like?

Jaclynn Robinson 3:58
Thriving, I think about doing what you do best every day, while also working with others who take pride in their work. You might also naturally gravitate towards friends and family who cultivate their potential, versus being around coworkers or friends and family that just aren't exercising it. You just go, Aah, I want to be surrounded by others that are also interested in investing in their talent, cultivating it, exceeding, exceeding the bar. And then in terms of struggling, working in a position that doesn't play to your talents, if we think about the workplace. That can be a big struggle. Also working with or around others who are poor performers, and -- I can't say that word -- poor performers and don't want to cultivate their potential. So again, going back to coworkers, family or friends, that can be a significant struggle.

Jim Collison 4:52
Yeah, it is. I had a, I was a role, I was a software Developer for a while; I wrote PL/SQL code -- wasn't very good at it. And it was, I wanted to be good at it. Oh, I wanted so, I so wanted to be good; I just wasn't. And so for 3 or 4 years, I really struggled to, you know, I wanted, again, but the talent just wasn't there to get it done. It was a struggle at times. I did form relationships, and folks that could help me, and then I could help them and other things. And so, by the time we got done with that, it worked out really, really well. But just pure, pure development, I just wasn't very good at it. So I was really struggling for a while there; it caused some wellbeing struggle.

Jaclynn Robinson 5:33
It's hard, isn't it? Because you just, you recognize that no matter how much you try to practice it, the return on investment isn't gonna be high. So it's just frustrating, just makes you mad.

Jim Collison 5:45
I'm never gonna dunk a basketball; let's just be really clear about that. That's never gonna happen, no matter how much I practice. We, in the back of the book, in Appendix 1, we've got this kind of broken out by one of the elements. All 5 of them are there. But with this element, Maximizer, what do you have for us today?

Jaclynn Robinson 6:02
Physical wellbeing. So when this person enters a gym, they are going to look for ways to improve their routine, as well as everyone else's. They will pursue the best exercise and fitness plans for their needs and will push good workout partners to be better. So if you have those workout partners, you've probably noticed it too -- those in the audience that have Maximizer, if you're in the gym, you're like, Their form's wrong. It's better if I could just tweak it. But we also do that potentially with friends.

Jim Collison 6:30
You, yes, we, no, we always do that with friends. That's the thing. So you get in the fitness center, right. You're like, oh, we could do this. It's like, could you do more of these? Can we have a challenge? A little different -- somebody had mentioned in the chat room about maybe high Competition too, and I don't have high Competition. But there, there is a, like, Maximizer in this sense, can sometimes be that journey -- we just talked about this with Learner -- the journey instead of the output. I mean, the output's great, right. But the journey to get, I enjoyed the journey of it way more. Now, I'm a social, like, there's a lot of Woo and Communication in there. But, but I think sometimes with Maximizer, the joy can be in the journey of making it better, as opposed to just being better, right? How did we get there? What were the steps that took to make this process better, or make this process more, right?

For those with Maximizer, how can it be used to support others?

Jim Collison 7:23
And so I think, Don't get, don't get lost in that, Maximizers, that, that there, there can be joy in the journey on this. And so, just like you're talking about, fitness is an easy way to do this, but that can be done in any of those community or, you know, social elements of wellbeing too of making the groups around us better. Yeah, we, we also have 4 other elements that Jaclynn has put together for us there in the book. And if you want to get access to those, Wellbeing at Work, Appendix 1, and some great tools to use while you're coaching or just for your own personal coaching, if you're looking at yourself. Jaclynn, when we think about Maximizer, how can we use this to support others?

Jaclynn Robinson 8:06
Well, if you're a manager or leading a team, you recognize the potential in your team members and have that, that natural ability to look for regular opportunities to match their talent to task. This engages them, and it furthers their development. So remember that, and continue to invest in that. It's just that natural lens you have. If you're on a team, people can depend on you to take an almost-finished project and give it that polished, finishing touch. And then as an individual, I always think about this quote from, supposedly, Tim Duncan, you know, quotes are always taken by somebody. But he says, "Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better, and your better is best." And that is just Maximizer through and through. But I think there's also times when you could take the pressure off, maybe have accountability partners to say, What you've done is already, you've already put out excellence. Give it a rest. Take a little bit of a break. But it's really hard, it's really hard for Maximizers. But I just love that quote. I think that really resonates with a lot of folks that have Maximizer.

Jim Collison 9:16
Indeed, yeah, and I was, you know, as you were thinking, or as you were saying that, I was thinking about that and when you're on a team and the ability to use Maximizer to drive this team towards both quality or quantity goals in getting things done. "Hey, let's -- " you know, I have, this happens to me all the time. When I'm working with groups, we'll be talking about something and I'll be like, "Hey, you know, if we did it this way, we could get," you know, or "we could do it better or it could look better, it could be better," right, from that. Drives some people crazy, because, you know, there's some Ideation built into that thing as well. But, right, some, some folks would get a little bit of pushback -- You know what? We just need to get started on this thing. Or, We don't have time. That's a, you know, that's another pushback I think Maximizers hear sometimes: There isn't time to do it that well or to do that much of it.

Jaclynn Robinson 10:13
Yes, that's where there's accountability partners come in, don't they? Because it's such a blessing when it's that sorter theme that can help sort between the best ideas or the best way of maybe getting something done. But if time is of the essence, sometimes you do need that person.

Jim Collison 10:29
It's always a balance.

Jaclynn Robinson 10:30
To help you pull back.

Jim Collison 10:31
Right? It's always, yeah, it's always a balance. In Appendix 2, we have a framework, a really simple framework, as we think through this by, these, each one of these elements. Walk us through one of those, one of those, frame, those frameworks.

Jaclynn Robinson 10:44
Sure. So Ask Yourself: Which of my strengths will I use today? Ask Your Team Members: Of all the things you do well in your job, which ones do you do best? And Take Action: Identify the parts of your role that fulfill you the most and look for opportunities to do them more often. And share that out with your manager and colleagues, so that they can also continue to find those opportunities for you.

Jim Collison 11:06
It's, it's really important why this "Best of Me" exercise is so important in what we do: You get the best of me when -- . And I think this is a great, I mean, yeah, it fits nicely into this conversation we're having about, about Maximizers, but I think it's also an important conversation to have frequently, frequently with your teams or frequently with those that you work with. To just say, Hey, right now, I mean, how great would it be to have a 2-minute conversation at the beginning of the day that says, "Today, you get the best of me when I've gotten a little rest"?

Jaclynn Robinson 11:37
Yes, a little more coffee in my cup to fight Daylight Savings Time, late nights,

Jim Collison 11:44
Just, like just a check-in to be like, Hey, here's where I am today. And actually, I'm feel -- because, you know in a week, you may feel, there may be, you know, there may be different things you're tuned into during the week. Like in the beginning of the week, I'm on fire for processes; by Friday, I don't want to look at another process, right. So there may be even, may, may even be Best of Me times of the week, to say, to remind your, the folks that you work with: You're getting the best of me right now in this, right?

Jaclynn Robinson 12:17
Yes. I like that time piece. We think about time sometimes by day -- I'm going to be my most creative in the morning. But to even break it down by week, where you're -- I really like that.

Jim Collison 12:30
Yeah, just a, just a thought, as we think through this. I mean, I think that could be added to every, kind of every conversation you're having in that, so. Well, Jaclynn, anything else you want to wrap it up with?

Jaclynn Robinson 12:43
No, I think you, you took it home as just thinking, for those that have Maximizer, you might naturally be thinking about when you might be at your best, but it's helpful for everyone to be thinking about when are you at your best? Have you shared that with other folks? So thank you for taking us there.

Jim Collison 13:02
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the CliftonStrengths Podcast. Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you listen, so you never miss an episode. And if you're really enjoying this podcast, please leave a review. This helps us promote strengths globally.

Jaclynn Robinson's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Strategic, Maximizer, Positivity and Relator.

Gallup^®, CliftonStrengths^® and each of the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are trademarks of Gallup. Copyright © 2000 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.