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.

Following the 34th release of Lake Superior State University’s annual List of Words to Be Banished and the playful inclusion of ‘Maverick’ for its overuse by John McCain in the US Presidential Campaign, Dynamic Transitions MD Germain believes that joking aside, the time has come to redefine what being a Maverick actually means, and why it is good for business.

“McCain coined the word ‘Maverick’ in his campaign speeches but clearly missed the full scope of what being a Maverick actually means in a business context. I define Maverick as wilful independence and ‘Maverickism’ can actually be found on a continuum from the conformist right through to extreme maverick tendencies”, explains Germain.

“A maverick personality is one which is wilfully independent at all times and in all circumstances. They are keen to make their mark and do things their way and often blaze innovation and lateral thinking to the projects and problems that they are working on. They often exasperate the people around them and peers can feel that they can’t keep up or hurt if an objective comment from a maverick is delivered in their usual blunt and brutally honest way”, explains Germain.

Germain believes that having maverick tendencies as opposed to having a maverick personality, is when the CEO or business owner is wilfully independent in their business dealings only.

Germain believes that the real advantage can be gained by those who can achieve Maverick Mastery® which is about being talented and different and being able to blend knowledge and skills for business success.

“When mavericks are running their business they do things in a way that is different to the rest of their industry, they take risks that other CEOs shirk at, and push harder and seek challenges that others feel are ‘insane’. This can be good for business especially if the CEO can harness their maverick nature”, says Germain.

Germain also believes that more Generation Ys need to adopt maverick tendencies if they want to stand out from their peers in an increasingly competitive environment. “Generation Y employees are already at a disadvantage in the current recession due to a difference in their values and work ethics, meaning they are often seen as lazy and unwilling to put in the extra time and effort that Generation X managers see as a given. Finding out what it means to really be a maverick and adapting those tendencies at work will give Generation Y employees real leverage and help them to secure their place in the business”, explains Germain.

Judith Germain is founder of Dynamic Transitions, a leadership company specialising in dealing with Mavericks in the workplace and Troublesome Talent. For more information visit www.maverick-mastery.com

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Successful companies have CEOs that celebrate maverickism, recognising that having employees that are able to think laterally, have integrity and are willing to point out and provide solutions to the errors of the company are to be encouraged. Mavericks or Troublesome Talent® within an organisation can bring a strong business focus wrapped up in a fission of creativity. This can equip the company with an ability to out fox the competition – especially as many companies are weighted with passionless and passive employees.

Maverick organisations think different strategically, take risks and show an unprecedented wilful independence from their competitors and others in their industry. This difference is the key to their success and customer loyalty. See here.

Maverick Mastery® is essential for organisations that can make difference count.

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Mavericks are easily bored and need to be given constant challenges to ensure that they are as productive and engaged as they could be. They tend to come up with innovative solutions and their way of working didn’t fit established corporate norms.

The Maverick is unafraid to question authority, buck trends or do what is ‘expected’ and understands that they are a square peg in a round hole. They have realised that they are under utilised, bored in their roles and that they often act inappropriately in the circumstances that they find themselves in.

This leads to frustration, and the lack of challenge soon sees them looking elsewhere for stimulation.

The Maverick comes from all types of professions from professional partnerships like accountancy or law, corporate life or individuals running their own business.

Their wilful independence can be a blessing or a curse dependent on how they harness their abilities. See here.

Maverick Mastery® is essential for the restless mind needing to realise its untapped potential.

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Maverickism is a continuum between being a conformist to an extreme maverick that cannot be influenced. Neither of the continuum ends are ideal, causing poor performance and personality flaws, the ideal is a socialised maverick.

Judith Germain defines a socialised maverick as one that can be ‘brought into polite company!’ Seriously though, mavericks that are socialised understand why people behave the way that they do and have learnt to curb their natural tendencies to be blunt and hurtful towards others. Whilst these tendencies are often not planned or even noticed they need to be harnessed so that the maverick can achieve what they desire.

Recognition and success is the watch words for mavericks, socialised mavericks are well on the way to achieving these things in an acceptable way.

Are you a maverick? If so you …

• think laterally and move in unexpected ways
• believe in tough love and brutal honesty
• are blunt and impatient of others incompetence
• love ‘why’ questions and honest debate
• need to succeed and do things your own way
• refuse to compromise your own standards

You must succeed no matter what …

Mavericks already have a level of success, our role is to enable you to improve your level of success faster and more appropriately. We work with you to support you in interacting with others better and more consistently. By understanding yours and others behaviour you will become more influential therefore achieving what you want in the shortest time possible.

We will support you by:

• enabling you to interact better and raising your social intelligence
• to challenge yourselves and others appropriately and effectively
• showing you how to achieve the success you desire

Maverick Mastery® is essential for the maverick persona to enhance their creative mind.

For more information contact us here.

Are you a Maverick Business Owner – if so you …

• find it very easy to be distracted with working in your business and spend no time working on the business
• do not have a trusted advisor to discuss your business and help you make it grow and become more profitable
• want to be more focused rather than just busy
• want to harness your impatience and impulsiveness to avoid expensive financial mistakes
• would like a sounding board that makes a difference
• are frustrated with the pace of your business

Things are just not moving quick enough …

We deliver Maverick Mastery^®. Business Mentoring for the business owner, on a retained basis. This service is for business owners who are committed to developing their business and really want to increase their chances of success. They understand that it is time to gain more focus, better influence and the ability to succeed by being more effective when working with others.

We will work with you on three main areas:

• the key activities that are needed to make you more successful
• the key activities to develop and grow your business
  
• the key activities the business owner needs to do to improve their personal brand and gain advocacy.

Our services to the SME owner means that we work extremely closely with the owner, to enable them to achieve their goals. See here.

Maverick Mastery^® is essential for the restless mind needing to realise its untapped potential.

For more information contact us here.

A maverick business owner demonstrates wilful independence and how they do this determines how well they will succeed in their endeavours. This type of person left a secure corporate job because they were unhappy trying to successfully navigate their way in corporations that could no longer contain them. They are ambitious business owners with big goals, very focused on getting more clients and delivering their core skill (training, or consulting for example). It is imperative that they concentrate on their business rather than working in it all the time. This is the only way they can achieve the stretching goals that they have set themselves.

These types of business owners are creative, big picture individuals who are busy but not focused. They are also impulsive and are spending their time working in the business not on it.

Maverick Business Owners do not want lifestyle businesses, they want a sustainable business that grows to be bigger than they are. Having a truely entrepreneurial mindset is keen to achieve this, otherwise the inherent traits of impulsiveness, impatience and risk taking can have an adverse effect on the business. See here.

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There are a lot of HR people who still play at the administrative level rather than the strategic level so businesses miss out a lot of key advice and help. My role in HR led me to mentoring as this it is about making sure the business meets it’s objectives through effective use of it’s people.

Within many organisations today there are problems with office culture. This needs to be altered before changes can happen. The first step is understanding what the culture is and what are the major drivers.

One of the first things you have to look at is which is the culture that the board thinks is the right culture in terms of their market place and how they want to achieve this. Without top level agreement from the board, there is no point in doing it. Once you have done that, it is a simple case of working backwards. It is all about behaviour. You cannot change people’s attitudes and belief systems because you told them to do it but by actually getting them to change their behaviour, they change themselves.

If you have a management team that does not take talent very seriously, and will not be held accountable for, they could be promoted without caring about whether their staff have been developed properly. Therefore one of the things you could change within a culture is training and mentoring, but also the senior managements pay structure. This means that they won’t get paid unless they reach certain development targets for their staff. Quite often, one of the ways to change a member’s behaviour towards their staff is to build it into the current structures that are already there.

What is a Maverick….

In my role as HR I quite often get asked to help manage Mavericks, often known as troublesome talent. A Maverick is someone that is wilfully independent. Mavericks can be divided into two categories, someone with a Maverick personality who is very wilful, and then you have people that have Maverick tendencies who in certain specific areas are wilful and that means that their work will be very different to anyone else in the industry.

Within companies we need to encourage Maverick tendencies and be very aware of Maverick personalities. Mavericks are really the ones that can help turn around businesses. They make up 20% of the talent pool and know what is going on whilst being very good at what they do. Unfortunately led incorrectly, Mavericks can cause 80% of the problems.

How do I know if I have a Maverick within my organisation?…. The Maverick type is someone that rather than just follow the rules, will actually look at the big picture and say “I don’t understand why you are doing this, it makes no sense”. They are very blunt individuals who will tell you how it is and often question “why” . They are not being challenging at an aggressive stance, they are doing it because they generally want to know and want to help.

Another way to know a Maverick personality is that they will think quite different from other people. They are quite fast thinking and are the ones that will see the next trend that is coming and start moving towards it.

Industries that Mavericks are within….

You will often see a lot of Mavericks in fast moving creative industries such as sales and media. These Mavericks are extrovert type mavericks. Mavericks within technical departments such as engineers and IT are quite often introverted Mavericks.

What are the differences…

• Extroverted Maverick – If you upset an extroverted Maverick, they will give you their opinion and tell you out loud “your wrong, this is the way it should be done, i’m not doing it this way”. You will know when you have upset them.

• Introverted Maverick – These might say “I don’t agree with you” but they will go ahead and do it anyway, you won’t be aware of them. Sometimes people miss that type of Maverick because they are not making a lot of noise so they don’t see them as a problem.

Is it important to find a company with which you are a good fit?…

With Mavericks, sometimes it is going to be impossible to get a real ft and that’s when you have to work round that and say what can they do to achieve in the company? One of the first things that companies can do with Mavericks, because don’t forget there’s not many true Mavericks in a company anyway, is to give them roles that are more consultative because Mavericks have got a very low boredom threshold anyway so when they have fixed the problem, they need to move onto something else.

Mavericks tend to do things when they think there is a compelling reason to do it. They tend to work in companies that are aligned to what they want to achieve.

If a company is going to do true leadership with a team of individuals and get the best results out of them, they will need to make sure that the things they want to implement and how they are going to implement them is finely tuned to the individuals. That is what true management is about.

Is there any difference for black Mavericks in the workplace?…

There are a lot of people who may put black people in the Maverick space when they are not truly Mavericks. This might well be down to stereo tying, and how the black person perceives themselves, and how they act. For example I have been saying that Mavericks tend to challenge a lot, ask why – and it’s for a genuine reason. If a black person does it, rather than actually seeing whether it’s a Maverick type challenge or an aggressive challenge, it might be seen as a aggressive challenge anyway when it’s not.

Lack of confidence….

A lot of Mavericks are motivated internally which means that if they feel like they are doing a good job, they don’t need to be told. An external person needs to be told regularly by people that yes that’s a good job. If someone tells them they can’t do it then they believe them.

Tips for becoming internally motivated..

One of the most basic tips is to understand what you are good at doing and what you are not good at doing because people that are externally influenced in a negative way tend to know their weakness really well but don’t know their strengths.

People should have their strengths on a list and then expand that list so they can say, this is how I use that strength. People might say I’m too trusting, and see that weakness. What does too trusting mean in terms of strength? These people will have a wide circle of friends which can be a major asset. Asking people that you trust, what you are good at and what you are bad at, and what they would change if they were you could also be useful.

You can also have a plan of where you want to be and break it down into steps on how to get there.

If you understand why people do the things they do, you can actually dis-associate yourself from their own behaviours, and that itself will make you stronger.

Confidence in the work place….

Whether it is your own business or in the workplace, no one can argue with true confidence. If you are not self motivated and you really don’t think you are good at what you do despite being told, you may need someone to work with you, as you might not have the skills to bring out your best qualities and this is where a mentor can really help you to gain the competitive edge.

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