Maximizer: Good to Great to Excellent

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

Clifton StrengthsFinder

If I was to pick one theme that defines TeamMates as an organization in recent years, it would be Maximizer. The last few years, TeamMates has been utilizing the resources of Jim Collins’s addendum Good to Great and the Social Sectors. In this resource, Collins, walks social sector organizations through steps to enhance and develop their organization from a good program to a great program. Collins states, “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline” (p. 31). We have focused, studied, and selected certain points from this text to implement at certain times in an effort to bring TeamMates from good to great. This philosophy

Just 9.7% of our mentors and 8.5% of our mentees have Maximizer in their Top 5 strengths. Gallup’s expanded definition of the theme gives us the image of “polishing a pearl until it shines.” Doing justice to the theme, this image shows that in and of itself, a pearl is valuable, but a Maximizer is not content with this. Instead, someone with high Maximizer will coax out talent, strength, and potential until that pearl shines.

Maximizer though, it not just about going from good to great, but also from great to excellent and then beyond. This strive for excellence can be seen on a program-wide level through our vision of becoming the Gold Standard of School-Based mentoring programs. The Gold Standard, as large and important as it may seem, starts with each and every one of us. It starts with you as a mentor, committing to stay with your mentee for a minimum of three years, while also striving to reach our yearly goal of 25 visits. It starts with you as a Program Coordinator, getting to know your mentors and mentees in order to make the best match possible. It starts with you as a Board Member, committing time to vision and move your chapter forward. It starts with each and every one of us. Together, is where we grow and develop to become the Gold Standard of school-based mentoring programs. Together we get to transform lives.

Image credit: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/growing-talent-strength-featuring-strengthsfinder-maximizer-seet

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