Maverick Mastery®

One of the tragedies of modern training and development programmes is that not everyone in the senior management team is given the equal opportunity to enhance their skills. In the age of equality it is often the case that HR professionals aren’t considered equally for training opportunities – however, this isn’t solely the fault of ‘unenlightened’ companies but HR professionals themselves.

Often with reducing budgets HR professionals choose to spend the diminishing training resources on other members of the team sometimes due to altruism or sometimes due to the misguided belief that they would never be able to justify the spend on themselves.

This can be a factor of HR not being seen as credible or serious by the organisation, even if the company funds the CIPD (seeing it similar to other basic skills training like CIMA), negotiation skills or conflict resolution training may be harder to source. Sometimes the senior team expect HR to somehow just ‘have’ the knowledge to succeed in their role without any significant training. In this, senior HR professionals are similar to CEOs (competency assumed, further training not required!), which although flattering can be disadvantageous to your career but even worse damaging to the organisation.

Almost all companies where the CEO or MD voice dissatisfaction with HR a common sentiment is that the HR professional is competent and good at their job, just that somehow they just don’t add value or are able to ‘step up’. What they are struggling to articulate is that they want more from HR than just transactional duties or ‘best practice’, they want to see HR as equal partners in the business – in the same way as Finance or Marketing.

No one expects the Finance Director to just put together the management accounts so why should the HR Director just ensure that employees are paid correctly?

There is more to running the company that just ensuring that the basics are done, and there is nothing wrong in seeking help to enable you and the company to succeed. If it’s acceptable that key individuals (like the CEO or the Marketing Director) are mentored to make them more effective and productive then my challenge to senior HR professionals to consider whether mentoring is an effective solution for them achieving the personal and/or organisational goals.

Senior HR professionals and a need for a HR Mentor

There are a number of reasons why a senior HR professional would consider mentoring rather than hiring an interim or consultant to come into the organisation and facilitate change for them. One of the reasons is that the task in hand requires the HR professional’s input and not a ‘stranger’ to the organisation. This could be due to credibility, culture or trust.

Another is professional development or a need to rapidly learn the key skill being transferred by the mentor whilst you are working on the project in hand. Finally executive coaching is not appropriate for the task in hand. Mentoring works well for more senior professionals who have the core competencies but just don’t have the specific knowledge for the task in hand.

Here are some examples of where HR mentoring has enabled HR professionals:

• Taking HR from a transactional, administrative department to an embedded, added value one

• Supporting HR become more credible to the business

• Embedding the HR Business Partner model into the business

• Enabling the HR professional to ‘step up’ and be seen as an equal partner in the business

• Having an objective person outside the organisation to discuss things with and if necessary seek guidance

Senior HR professionals that require an external mentor is best suited by someone who has a strong HR and operational background who is able to facilitate the transfer of knowledge with credibility and efficiency. It is important that this expert has knowledge outside of the HR arena.

Your mentor enables you to have the ability to confide in someone outside of the company, who is an objective sounding board. Often it’s lonely at the top! If you are the most senior HR professional in your organisation there is often no one to confide in. You are unable to share your concerns or frustrations fully with your team – whether that’s your own HR team or the senior management team.

You face many important strategic decisions and it can be beneficial to work with someone who has been in your position and knows the path that you need to take to secure success. Enabling your department or your team to ‘add value’ can sometimes benefit from an external mentor or consultant who not only has the ability to make this change happen, but can guide and advise you if you wish to facilitate this change yourself.

In the same way that training spend is invested in the professional development of the CEO and the other members of the senior team, HR professionals need to ask for the investment that they believe they need. It is perfectly acceptable for senior HR professionals to use external mentors to enable them to complete either specific tasks or enable them to facilitate big changes such as increasing the skill of the HR team or enabling the HR department to become more credible to the business.

After all, the future of the organisation is at stake

Most companies understand that enabling individuals to work in teams can be a sure fire way to improve the company’s performance. When an air of competition is allowed to permeate the culture it can become rapidly unhealthy leading to aggressive working practices that disable cooperation and productive and efficient work performance.

It is understandable, therefore, that companies want to ‘fix’ failing teams or find ways to improve the performance of teams following mergers or mass redundancies as soon as possible. Unfortunately, companies can often seek a ‘quick fix’ and by doing so determine that a team building exercise over a day or so will solve the problem.

Most people’s perception of a teambuilding day is something akin to a military intervention with either assault courses, with complex problems to solve or paintballing where you are encouraged to compete against fellow work colleagues. These type of events can pose concerns around being very male orientated, difficult for disabled employees to participate and can reinforce stereotypes.

Often these events are seen as a desperate attempt to improve motivation and morale and without good communication the event can be stalled prior to anyone’s attendance on the course. A lot of employees are fearful of what to expect at one of these events and are often reluctant to spend time with their colleagues. It is important to dispel an anxiety prior to their attendance.

Here are the most common reasons why team building events often do not work:

• There is often misunderstanding as to whether the company wants to build a team for a specific purpose or to engender a team working environment. This is an important distinction. When a company is considering teambuilding events they are usually hoping to create a lasting environment that enables employees to understand each other better and to improve their performance in the team. It is this goal that is often not factored into the team building event.

• The team building event is not aligned to the company’s objectives. For example these events concentrate on the attendees having fun and not on achieving set goals. They often do not look at the desired competences required by the company.

• The event may focus on competition over all else. Whilst in a hiring situation competition can provide a useful insight into someone’s character, within a teambuilding setting it can be divisive and destructive if appropriate care has not been taken. This is often because completion brings out the worse in people. It’s possible that having seen someone at their worse you no longer want to work with them!

• The team building event is a one off event without any changes to the company structure, mind set, culture or procedures. This is where organisations believe that a one off event (building bridges out of planks for example) will be the only solution to improving the performance of a failing team. The team becomes confused as to the purpose of the event.

• The team are very busy and would rather concentrate on clearing the outstanding work rather than ‘running through fields’ with their co-workers. They can see the team building event as another example of ‘the management’ not understanding the pressure that they are under.

Recently we were hired by a HR Director who wanted us to deliver a leadership training course that had a large team building component to it. When questioned it became clear that team building wasn’t the biggest issue that he was apprehensive about. He was concerned that the new management team, whilst technically competent were too used to working in silos and not as a consistent strategic team. The biggest issue with the management team was their inability to lead their teams and be able to consider the impact that their decisions were making on the rest of the company. The consequences that the company were facing was reducing market share, increasing employee turnover, poor morale and managers that felt uncomfortable with their enlarged management roles. This was having a significant impact on the profitability of the company and the managers’ poor leadership was having a ripple effect across the company and impacting on the once positive supplier relationship.

In order to enable the company to have more empowered, effective leaders and to reduce the downward trend and have an improved team we designed and delivered a leadership course that also had team building at its core. This meant that rather than having team building sections – we concentrated on increasing the leadership competencies of the team by ensuring that a team working atmosphere was fostered. Having an evening component as part of the course enabled the attendees to relax with each other, put into practice the behaviours that they had learnt and enabled the team to begin to grow together.

It is important to have effective and productive teams working within your organisation. Whenever you are considering running team building interventions to ‘fix’ problem or failing teams, you should consider whether your intervention will meet the strategic and operational of the business.

Even good managers can find it difficult being effective team leaders, often their efforts can be thwarted by troublesome team members. These team members can have an adverse effect on how a team operates and performs and can present quite a challenge to overcome! Often you can divide troublesome team members into two camps, those that are wilfully independent, mavericks if you will, and those that are difficult because they enjoy causing trouble.

When your team is being affected by a troublesome team member it is important to decide which camp they belong to because how you manage them will be quite different. If the person is someone who enjoys causing trouble, perhaps because they have a grudge to settle or they just find it amusing to be the centre of attention, then you will find that ‘traditional’ management techniques will work well with them. Those that are willfully independent (mavericks), will need a different intervention because they are more likely to need more of your attention and are not motivated in the same way as the rest of the population.

One of the telling differences between these two groups of people is one of intention. Troublesome Talent®, wilfully independent mavericks, only want to do what their believe is right and will risk everything to deliver against that. Difficult people by their very nature, wishes to cause trouble regardless of whether they are right or not in their assumptions. These individuals are easier to manage!

Troublesome Talent® has a particular way in which they need to be managed to ensure that you get the best out of them and they improve the performance of the team rather than distracts and derails it. For best results you should:

• Be available. It is very important that you give Troublesome Talent® the attention that they need at the times that they want it. The worse thing that you can do is ignore them, this will just prompt them to be disruptive to the team and encourage them to undermine you at every opportunity.

• Recognise their expertise. All mavericks thrive on others recognising their expertise and their uniqueness. Do not fall into the trap of constantly praising them as they will not trust constant reinforcement of how good they are. It is more beneficial to look out for the moments when they do something particularly outstanding even for them – and then let them know that you were impressed.

• Be realistic in regards to the necessity of rules. Unlike other types of employees, they find it very difficult to work within rules that appear bureaucratic in nature and do not support the stated goal. Draw up guidelines that they work within rather than constraining rules.

• Give them a compelling reason to change. Let them know that their behaviour is unacceptable, at times when they have gone too far. Get this right and you will have their respect for ever. Remember, the way to do this is to influence them to change their behaviour – employing command and control tactics will make things worse.

• Let them create, even if that means they do this at odd times during the day. If they respect and believe in you, they will work tirelessly to ensure that your vision is implemented and is successful.

• Demonstrate belief in them. Trust is a great motivator and if your Troublesome Talent® senses that you don’t trust them they are likely to turn their talents elsewhere.

Troublesome Talent® is often your most productive member of your team and if managed properly can be a great influencer. Frequently they are described as charming or manipulative, often it is down to you on which behaviour they will exhibit!

A good training course delivers its objectives, is interesting and interactive and allows for the differing learning styles of the attendees. The success of the course will require an effective trainer who can impart their knowledge whilst retaining the attention of the learners. Understanding human behaviour is often a requisite to being able to deliver a course that can exceed the expectations put upon it.

First things first

When you are delivering training it’s important to understand not only what your required outcomes are, but also what the organisational goals are, the prevailing context and what the attendees were told about the course before they arrived. You are more likely to have a higher proportion of difficult people on your course if attendance was mandatory and not seen as necessary by them, and/or an organisational environment where major change is happening (eg redundancy).

Understanding the expectations of the attendees and whether they are likely to be hostile to your training intervention is therefore vital. If this is a possibility then it’s important to design the content of the course accordingly and deal with their potential hostility upfront and immediately that the course starts. A ‘safe’ way to do this is when you ask the attendees what their objectives are for the training course. Our experience shows that at this stage the attendees often articulate any resentment to being on the course and how they feel about the organisation. This is a fantastic opportunity to discover their objections, listen to their issues and calibrate them to the need for attending the course. This is why knowledge of the organisational context is important. It is imperative that this section on understanding their objections and you addressing them should be kept very short. The last thing that you want to do is spend significant time discussing their objections as it will have a destabilising effect of the morale of the group and your ability to deliver the course well and on time.

It is very common (and to be expected) that there will be at least one member of the course who will feel the need to demonstrate their expertise and challenge your authority or credibility in running the course. A good trainer would have used the five minute introduction phase of the course to establish they credibility and to flush out the individuals who are likely to be ‘lively’.

Delivering a lively, interesting course – mindful of the attendees behaviour

Some trainers mistakenly believe that delivering training in environments where some hostility is shown means they are entering a battle zone! The problem with this theory is that within every training environment there will be some hostility! The actions of the trainer can therefore make it substantially worse.

A good trainer does the following subconsciously:

• Analyse the attendees behaviour to discover which ones fall into the subsequent categories

• The ‘know it all’

• The ‘sceptic’

• The ‘been there done it’

• The ‘enthusiastic puppy’

• The ‘maverick’

• The ‘follower’

• The ‘academic’

• The ‘life long learner’

• The ‘demotivator’

• Adjust the course delivery and perhaps content to suit the training characteristics of the attendees

• Seek interaction and ensure that all learning styles are catered for

• Deal with each attendee according to their ‘training characteristic’ (for example the ‘maverick’ needs to be treated differently to the ‘follower’

• Are able to smoothly and flexibly shift their own style to meet the needs of the group

• Deliver a course that meets the objectives of the learner and the organisation

An example of dealing with a difficult training characteristic – the ‘maverick’

I define ‘maverick’ to mean wilful independence and it is this training characteristic which is probably the one that causes trainers the most difficulty. Mavericks have a high sense of self confidence and self esteem and believe that they are more intelligent than others. This can be a heady mix when they are faced with a trainer that has not established their credibility or is delivering a course that they consider to be boring or inappropriate for them.

The following are likely indicators that you are facing a maverick:

• You are asked a number of questions that are disrupting and show that they believe they know more than you do on the subject

• You are shown disrespect by the attendee (this can be on a continuum from mild to extreme)

• They show their displeasure through body language and audio clues (eg heavy sighs and rolling of the eyes)

• You are challenged constantly and other attendees or yourself are undermined

• They refuse to participate in the course or the exercises

Interventions to use with the maverick training characteristic

• Establish credibility upfront and immediately

• Discover their objectives/objections for being on the course (and build into the course)

• Find a way to avoid making them look stupid (if you fail you are likely to make running the training course extremely difficult)

• Ensure that you do not lose control or appear uneasy

• Provide boundaries and structure (when you need to enforce your control, do it quickly and do not dwell on it – avoid trying to make the maverick lose face in front of their peers)

• Be clear on the objectives of the course, and how the course will run. What are the components of the course?

• Give them something to do – eg ensure they lead on some of the exercises

• Recognise them (whilst ensuring that they do not dominate the course) and appeal to their intellectual ability

Training courses present the trainer with an opportunity to engage with all members of team, even those who seem to be resistant to whatever you are trying to teach them. Remember that a one size fits all approach is unlikely to be successful as is approaching resistance from a defensive position! It can be easy to spend the majority of the course then fighting your corner, but by using some of the techniques mentioned above, you can be better placed to deliver a lively and interesting course which has benefit for all those in attendance.

When the business environment becomes more challenging companies tend to concentrate on hard measures such as reducing costs, increasing profits and downsizing often ignoring the sometimes intangible measures such as the management’s ability to be successful leaders, as a possible solution to how a business could weather the storm. This can be a flawed approach and can be extremely detrimental to the health of the business.

Having effective and productive leaders are imperative for an organisation’s success and ability to be agile in competitive and changing environments. This is often the reason that many HR departments insist that leadership training is the way forward to rectify the deficiencies in the organisation’s capability.

When the HR department advises the management team that they need leadership training this is often met with derision and a reluctance to attend, or worse still if they do attend, assessment following the training shows that in the mid to long term there is little to none improvement in leadership competence. This has a long term adverse effect on the business and the ability of employees to reach their potential and add value to the business.

Senior management buying in to the training intervention is essential in ensuring that it stands more than a fair chance of being accepted and embedded into the organisation.

Some of the ways that HR can embarrass itself when sponsoring leadership training

• Buying off the shelf training not aligned to the business

• Leadership training that concentrates on techniques not business

• Over reliance on one type of learning

• Using a trainer that lacks credibility

• Ignoring social intelligence as a key competency

One of the reasons that most managers refuse to attend leadership training is because they do not believe that it is relevant to their needs and they feel that after many years of managing people they are already effective and proficient managers. This perception is probably backed up by years of good Performance Reviews (where leadership ability/competency has never been assessed) and a reward structure that encourages poor leadership and a reliance on task completion over leadership ability.

It can be tempting to just buy in training that has not been aligned to the business – assuming that all leadership training is the same. It is imperative that you assess with the supplier exactly what you need to achieve and how the training can support the business objectives. The provider should also understand the culture of the business and ensure that the training embeds the desired culture and change objectives that you feel is necessary. Determination on whether coaching for junior members of the team or mentoring for more senior members will be more effective than a training course should be considered. It may be necessary to supplement the training with coaching or mentoring depending on the need of the business.

A major flaw in many leadership training programmes is that they concentrate on leadership techniques without considering how it relates to good business practice. For example, is the ability to understand Situational Leadership or Action Centred Leadership the training course or is the training course how you can apply Situational Leadership etc to your business day? It is a subtle although all essential distinction and one that will make an important difference in whether there will be any behavioural change or desired performance improvement.

Some trainers prefer to train in the learning style that is more comfortable for them rather than considering the learning styles of the delegates. This can lead to training courses that are biased and only suitable for a proportion of the management cadre. For example lots of activities like role plays for those that prefer to ‘get stuck in’ or case studies that like to problem solve. Training that relies on only one or two methods of learning will ultimately fail its objectives.

Training can ‘die a death’ if the trainer is not considered credible by the trainees. This often means that the trainer needs to have a wealth of relevant experience and the ability to understand not only leadership but business as well. Over reliance on one discipline (HR or business) will leave a training course ‘off balance’ and ineffective.

I see Social Intelligence as the ability of taking Emotional Intelligence and applying it to social situations. It concerns itself with how you interact with others and how you assess the situations/environments around you, to achieve a win/win solution or best agreed alternative solution. Social Intelligence is also about how you respond to the different situations and environments that you find yourself in. This is the essence of leadership and one that is often missed by leadership trainers!

One of our more successful leadership programmes teaches managers not only strong leadership techniques but also how to build their reputation as leaders, how to generate trust and how to role model change. It is the easiest thing to teach a leadership technique, much harder to teach the behavioural competencies that are required to lead. To ensure that your leadership training course works you must consider the following:

• What do you wish to achieve?

• Is the training course biased in how it expects people to learn or behave?

• Is it tailored to my business?

• What else is being taught other than leadership technique?

• How credible is the trainer and do they understand not only the ‘HR’ but ‘business’ as well?

In the current economic climate, the biggest headache for most small businesses is the costs associated with managing and employing staff. Ultimately, this comes down to one key question; are businesses spending too much time carrying out activities that they are not adequately trained to do? Business Mentor and management specialist Judith Germain explains why small businesses need to review the costs of their HR activities and explains why outsourcing non-core activities is so critical in today’s competitive marketplace.

It is inevitable that many entrepreneurs and small business owners will reach the point where they need to support the growth of their business by taking on additional staff, but many are put off doing so by the deluge of rules and regulations covering every aspect of the HR process. As a result, many businesses spend a great deal of unnecessary time and energy on managing their processes instead of running and growing their business.

In this article, we are going to look at the most common HR issues, which cause problems for small businesses and what can be done to ensure these areas are carried out more efficiently.

1. Legislation

Small businesses spend a lot of time trying not to fall foul of the increasing levels of legislation that befall them. Whilst legislation can be a good thing it can have a disproportionate effect on a small business.

For example the Disability Discrimination Act can see small businesses paying huge sums for failing to follow good processes and investigating absence claims properly. Many small businesses do not see the need for establishing absence policies believing that because the business has a family atmosphere there will not be any issues. This is beset with problems as once an employee falls ill, especially if their illness falls under the DDA, then the employee is often encouraged to claim against the employer in pursuit of the huge payouts that is perceived to be available to them. This can cause the business to spend an inordinate amount of time defending a DDA claim which is costly not only in management time but also in professional costs (ie external lawyers).

There is little understanding of the DDA amongst business owners and yet it is one of the most pervasive employment laws affecting businesses. Having a good absence policy can reduce the risk of a DDA claim and it is worth investing in getting such policies drawn up by a HR professional to ensure they meet the needs of the business and the requirements of the DDA.

2. Absence Policies

Whilst absence from work due to sickness is inevitable, businesses need to consider whether the amount of time taken off is reasonable and reflected across the wider business, as there may be underlying issues which are affecting the bottom line that are being missed or masked as ‘absence from work’.

If sickness/absenteeism levels are out of the ordinary (or relating to certain department(s) only) then it could suggest that there is a more serious underlying problem involving the management of the business. This could be due to poor management style, ineffective methods of delivery, low department morale, low motivation etc.

For example, where a department is under threat of redundancy, absenteeism is relatively low and attendance is stable (due to the fear that any days off work could mean that they are chosen for redundancy). But alongside this most organisations will find that there is an increase in absenteeism in other departments as a direct result of the redundancy threat in another department. More often than not this is due to low morale and upset about the pending redundancies.

The key challenge is to look at the company as a whole, and tackle the causes of absence and not the symptoms of it. This could mean a stronger reliance on preventative methods rather than just reactive ones. Thus ensuring that any issues with management efficiency and style as well as employee morale and motivation are identified and resolved at an early stage in order to avoid impacting on absence levels later down the line.

It is worth looking for a consultant who specialises in leadership and development issues who can come into the business and identify and resolve these issues at the core before they have a knock-on effect throughout the entire business.

3. Recruitment

Particularly in smaller businesses, the most crucial task of Recruitment is often undertaken by untrained employees. This can cause a minefield of potential dangers. It’s important to be able to recruit and retain the right employees because replacing an employee on average can cost a business between £5k – £10k.

Remember, businesses may face claims of discrimination in their recruitment process (which are unlimited). One option for small businesses looking to recruit new staff is to hire recruitment agencies to do it instead, as they can reduce the risk and overall cost of the firm doing it itself.

4. HR software for Payroll, Talent Management etc

For many businesses, HR software can bring a number of benefits, the most primary one being a significant cost reduction for the company in terms of administrative time, reduced staff turnover and HR headcount.

Significant improvements in how a company recruits and retains its employees can be established by using Talent Management software as it can provide detailed knowledge of the cause and effect of current and proposed recruitment strategies. Another area where Talent Management software comes into its own is in managing absence. Accurate record keeping, trends analysis and objective assessment can lead to increased attendance, lower costs and avoidance of expensive legislative issues flowing from contravening the DDA as mentioned earlier.

However, HR software should be treated with caution as one of the mistakes that companies make typically when buying integrated Talent Management software is allowing finance, payroll and procurement needs to influence the choice of system with limited input from a HR perspective. This often means that the significant cost savings and performance improvement that could be achieved by having a detailed knowledge of the talent of the organisation are never utilised, because they can be seen as expensive intangible factors for non HR practitioners. This can make the new system an expensive acquisition for small businesses with little practical use in managing the talent of a diverse workforce.

There is nothing worse than spending a small fortunue on a new piece of software only to end up never using it, so it is worth seeking advice from a HR specialist when considering the various HR software options available to ensure that the most suitable option is chosen for the needs of the business.

6. Pastoral Care

Perhaps the most cost effective and efficient means of reducing HR costs is probably the simplest and most overlooked; listening and talking to employees! A happy workforce will be productive, efficient and loyal and simply by looking after staff and ensuring that their needs are met through the business, there will be less absence, less overtime costs and less recruitment costs as staff churn reduces.

Mentoring and Coaching programmes are the most effective way of managing the personal and professional needs of employees and I have come across many situations where a simple miscommunication or misunderstanding between management and employees could have potentially had a disastrous effect on the business if it had not been nipped in the bud during an early mentoring session.

When evaluating the costs associated with managing and running a small business, it is crucial to indentify areas which take up a disproportionate amount of time and detract from the overall growth and development of the business. Outsourcing the more lengthy or risky HR activities such as recruitment, payroll etc can free up valuable time within the business to focus on more critical areas such as the development and well being of employees and their motivation and desire to help make the business prosper.

I define Troublesome Talent® as the wilfully independent. This is the type of person who is recognised as being a maverick – hugely talented but difficult to manage. They often complete targets and objectives with ease but cause enormous problems with colleagues and peers in the process. All the while being loved by the customer. I often get involved when the business loses patience and is faced with the dilemma – ‘Do I sack or do I develop?’ Sacking can be a very expensive option, not least due to the disruption to the business.

What makes Troublesome Talent® so different from the rest of the talent pool?

I believe that talent management is the ability to nuture, develop and maintain the talent of the organisation so that they can meet the objectives of the organisation. It is a holistic approach to managing talent rather than a specific component approach that many companies undertake. For example concentrating talent management strategies on the ‘top team’ or ‘high potentials’ rather than on key talent across the organisation.

This holistic approach is more likely to enable the manager to nuture and develop their Troublesome Talent® who are often ignored or excluded from talement management programmes due to their personalities or ability to cause disruption within a structured organisation.

The common question posed by a maverick is ‘Why?’

Mavericks do not compromise their standards to fit in, and therefore cannot be managed conventionally. Despite the fact that they often do not utilise their talents effectively, mavericks tend to be the top performers in companies and within business. Common traits of low boredom and impatience means that mavericks often have trouble articulating effectively what they want or what they mean.

They are unlikely to go with the flow for an easy life which is unlike the rest of the talent pool. These individuals will not only acknowledge ‘the elephant in the room’ they will actively try to drive it out – which is the exact reverse of what is expected in most companies and will often be treated which huge amount of suspicion. Often managers feel challenged by these individuals and react to them in an aggressive way which will typically drive Troublesome Talent® to initially protest and then react by becoming destructive within the company.

How would you develop Troublesome Talent®?

When you are considering developing your Troublesome Talent® it is worth considering the three points below, which can be considered the biggest challenges that they face.

Communication with others and the need to speak the truth

Whilst your maverick at work is very articulate, they may have problems communicating to others in a way that their audience can understand and accept. If you ask your Troublesome Talent® whether you are doing a good job, and they feel that you are not; expect to receive blunt, to the point feedback on your shortcomings. They are extremely loyal to those that they trust and respect so if you are their manager and do not live up to their expectations – expect a rough ride!

For example mavericks have an overiding need to tell the truth. They feel that to do otherwise affects who they are and lessens their integrity – one of the principles that they hold dear. This is why communication can be fraught, their need to tell the truth far outweighing the need to not upset someone else. The trait not to upset someone is not usually as well developed as it is in others. This is generally because the maverick has such high self esteem, there is little that will upset him and he naturally feels that everyone else is like him. (Do not assume that your Troublesome Talent® is however unable to be hurt at work).

It’s important to develop their communication skills and that doesn’t mean sending them on a communications course! What they need is mentoring on the cause and effect of their behaviour tied in with a compelling reason for them to change. Without a compelling reason there will not be any change at all – they are not concerned with ‘fitting in’, so get to know them. What do they want? Promotion? Variety? Autonomy? – then tailor their learning on how they can achieve what they desire. Be realistic with them, don’t lie – if they catch you out, they will not forgive or forget!

High self esteem and self confidence

This can often be interpreted as arrogrance rather than the high self confidence that they feel. Troublesome Talent® often only express an opinion with quiet insistence when they know they are right. This can often mean they do not appear to listen to counter arguments or may appear to be inflexible once they have made their decision. It’s a problem of perception rather than just behaviour. This is a communication issue and should be addressed as such.

The need to complete objectives

Mavericks like to complete their objectives as they take pride in solving problems and finding solutions. They will often induldge in lateral thinking to solve the problem, seeing things often missed by others. They are`also likely to break rules that appear unimportant or break with protocol to ensure that an objective is met. Mavericks are often punished or penalised for taking this route which can lead them to becoming despondent and destructive.

Their development in this area depends on your ability to enable them to see the consequences of their actions. The effect of a single minded pursuit for a solution can sometimes not justify the journey to get there. Often Troublesome Talent® is rewarded by the organisation for this behaviour (bigger bonuses, recognition) whilst at the same time being punished for it by HR teams or their manager. This is counter productive and can be confusing to the employee.

Troublesome Talent should not be ignored and companies that do run the risk of slipping behind their global competitors who place developing talent as their number one priority. There is lack of accountability for leadership development by senior management they need to realise that it is not HR’s responsibility to develop individuals – it must be developed by senior management if it is to have any impact on developing and retaining talent for the future.

In this economic climate there is a lot of temptation to ‘rationalise’ the workforce by shedding difficult individuals that consume a substantial amount of management time and pose an increasing risk of litigation in the future. This becomes even more attractive when the HR Director is challenged with the request to downsize an organisation, especially if they have the mistaken belief that by reducing the number of Troublesome Talent® they reduce the number of problems within the company.

Wilfully independent people (Troublesome Talent®) tend to be the 20% of the best performers in an organisation although they can present 80% of the problems. Persevering with them however, can be rewarding as they have the ability to knock a company out of complacency and into increased performance and profitability. Managing these difficult but talented individuals is becoming increasingly more complicated within flatter organisations. This is especially true where managers and team leaders are responsible for the performance of a workforce that are not their direct reports.

Trying to impose a conformist approach on these individuals is most likely to ensure that they become dysfunctional! I define leadership as trusted influence. Leadership over management is the key to harnessing this type of talent, with success dependent on an individualistic approach. Troublesome Talent® require their leaders to be worthy of following, having little time for those that do not come up to their exacting requirements. A good leader is able to inspire and extend trust and to influence their Troublesome Talent® to become better leaders, regardless of the position that they may hold within the company. Helping to instil leadership capability, (including emotional and social intelligence) into these difficult but talented individuals is a great first step to harnessing their talent.

It is important to provide your Troublesome Talent® with as much time that their need. These individuals value their expertise and their unerring ability to be right! As such they fear looking stupid and will do whatever they can to ensure that they do not receive a knock to their self esteem. The ability to think well of themselves is all important. This is why they will want to be able to have instant access to their manager when they need to check their understanding of the brief. Restriction to this access will cause them to be resentful, frustrated and ultimately destructive. If their manager can remember that the constant questioning is not a challenge but a quest for clarity and respond appropriately, this will enable the individual to become more productive. Once they are able to fully understand what is required and the relevant boundaries of the brief they will usually hurtle off at break neck speed completing their task with accuracy, insight and efficiency.

Troublesome Talent®, sometimes referred to as Mavericks, require others to recognise their expertise and their uniqueness. Recognise this in subtle ways, as constant reinforcement of how good they are will be mistrusted. The best approach is to let them know that you are impressed when they exceed your expectations.

Demonstrate regularly and consistently that you believe in them. When a maverick mistrusts you – all is lost and it will be impossible to garner their cooperation in any initiative that you are involved in.

Try not to overly constrain them with unnecessary rules – they will break them anyway! Consider guidelines that allow them room to manoeuvre instead. This is the best way to get the most out of them.

When your talented employee ‘misbehaves’ you need to give them a compelling reason (for them) to change. Let them know that their behaviour is unacceptable, at times when they have gone too far. Get this right and you will have their respect for ever. Remember, the way to do this is to influence them to change their behaviour – employing command and control tactics will make things worse.

Remember, if your difficult but talented individual respects and believe in you, they will work tirelessly to ensure that your vision is implemented and is successful. For them to be effective, you need to let them be creative when and where they need to be.

UK companies run the risk of slipping behind global companies if they continue to focus on things that can work counter towards improving the business through leveraging their talent.

Many businesses understand the need to develop and nurture their top talent but according to the CIPD Global Leadership Forecast 2008-2009 accountability for this lies mostly with the HR team and junior managers within the business. Only 19% of UK senior managers being held accountable, in global companies this rises to 36%.

Most business leaders are aware of the old adage ‘you get what you measure’ and this can explain why there appears to be failure in companies ability to ensure that effective leadership development takes place. Senior management abrogating accountability can be an effective way to ensure the success or otherwise of this vital development is hidden in a HR metric, potentially not even aligned to the business.

The CIPD found that 64% of UK companies felt that improving or leveraging top talent was a number one pirority for their business. To achieve this then overall accountability must move from HR (who should continue to support managers in this area) and junior managers to senior managers. This is the most effective way to ensure that talent management is taken seriously by the company and enables our business priorities like improving customer service and maintaining growth in increasingly competitive markets take place.

Senior management can be held accountable in a number of ways the most effective include:

• Align accountability for talent management to salary and bonus schemes

• When senior managers resort to the Board on their functional responsibilities like growth targets,talent management has an equal amount of ‘airspace’

• Ensure that senior management are not promoted unless there is a successor readily available

• Ensure that talent management is addressed as a senior management team not just an individual managers responsibilty

• Enable the HR team to hold senior management accountable to effect talent management as well as the Board.

The measures above are designed to ensure that senior management remains focused on developing and nuturing top talent as a key importance to the business. These managers are most able to define key talent’s career opportunities, morale and ability to perform well for the company via their direct control or patronage. If this ability is used well then the company is more likely to achieve its strategic objectives.

The pressures to work more efficiently are as important as ever in the current climate and deligation is often an area in which many small business owners struggle. Often used to taking control and managing tasks from start to finish, business leaders need to proactively manage their time so that it is spend guiding the business forward. Leadership specialist Judith Germain explains why delegation is so important in growing SME’s and why it should be seen not so much of a burden as it is a reward and may lead to the discovery of a successor within the business.

The importance of delegation within a growing business

Delegation is crucial for effective succession. A successor is much needed in a growing business, so everyone can move on to higher things without depending on people from outside the business, however this can be provoked if the manager fails to provide good delegation skills. Many growing businesses suffer because of the inability for business owners and key personnel to delegate responsibilities to their teams. This not only stifles the growth of employees but hampers the company’s ability to move into the right direction. This also stops them from meeting their personal business objectives.

When a manager can’t delegate properly he runs the risk of increasing employee turnover due to employees being de-motivated. The business is then likely to suffer as it will start spiralling out of control and become stagnant. This can be a result of either not enough delegation, or micromanagement, which occurs when the manager provides too much input and direction into the task he set to the assigned person, leaving them feel un-motivated and soul destroyed as they don’t get the freedom. Without following guidelines to good delegation your business may result in a slow death.

How to know what to delegate

Managers should delegate tasks to the subordinate that are non core to what they do. They should be tasks that will make the individual reasonably confident with completion and success but that will develop and stretch their knowledge at the same time. So basically you should give them tasks that could be done better by someone else but by letting them try they will feel more motivated, maybe even more than the usual person you assign to the certain task.

What the manager needs to do to delegate successfully

First of all he needs to make sure he has chosen the right individual(s) and that they fully understand the task provided. Secondly that they feel confident that they can achieve the task to a good standard, which you should then choose certain times of checking on their progress but make sure you don’t approach them too often or they may feel nervous of making wrong actions. You should kindly talk through a mistake with the individual if it occurs but do it in a way that’s still leaving them motivated. Praise them for good work as this will spur them on and make them do an even better job. Last but not least make sure that they have the resources they need in order to complete the task.

How to select the right people to delegate to

You should keep an eye out for the individuals who are operating below their capability, or individuals that are wanting to develop further, as well as the people that can handle additional workloads, or sometimes aim for the people who arent performing to their greatest abilites, especially the troublesome ones as this may keep them engaged in working more effitiently and enjoy their jobs more.
If you are not sure what tools they need, just ask them! Or show them someone who can guide them to success, for example someone who regularly does the task provided.

How to provide effective feedback

Feedback should be transparent, honest and constructive. You should criticise on what they are doing wrong but praise them for what they are doing right, and provide them with constructive critisism so its not taken to heart but will be thoroughly improved. Remember everyone learns from their mistakes.

What role remains for the manager once he/she has delgated

Strategic thinking or planning is not done by enough managers as it is quite time consuming, however once you’ve delegated it gives you time to focus on things that happen next instead of getting in a muddle. He/she will even be able to take time out to work on developing the team and improving the overall performance of his department or company. This leaves them on top and possibly ahead of other businesses.