Maverick Mastery®

The maverick view – create your own surroundings

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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Dynamic Transitions Ltd enables mavericks to develop mastery in how they interact with others and how they put their creativity in motion. Mavericks – the wilfully independent, are lateral thinkers and are talented individuals who are determined to succeed by influencing others.

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.

We enhance the entrepreneurial mindset

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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The proposed end to Britain’s opt-out of the 48-hour working week could have disastrous consequences for businesses in the UK, who are currently surviving on the goodwill of employees who work extra hours to survive the credit crunch, warn specialists at leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions.

According to the Surrey-based consultancy firm, many employees and especially managers are working in excess of 48 hours simply to help keep the business afloat and their jobs intact. If they are unable to continue, businesses will have no choice but to raise the cost of their services or hire additional staff, neither of which will sit well in an economy heading towards recession.

The announcement from Brussels comes at the same time as reports by Friends Provident, which suggest that employees are more prone to illness and stress than they were three years ago and that many already put at least seven hours of unpaid overtime in a week or work two jobs. Germain believes the move to reducing the amount of paid overtime available to staff, particularly in ‘blue collar’ jobs such as production or retail will result in even more stress as their ability to earn much needed extra income is slashed.

“Companies may find themselves in a situation where they can’t give staff overtime because they have already worked their 48 hours. This is likely to cause added strain on businesses who may then put pressure on employees to work even harder in less time, resulting in a dramatic fall in morale and an increase in costs if these staff then go sick”, explains Judith Germain, MD of Dynamic Transitions.

But office workers will be hit too, as Germain warns that the biggest issue facing businesses will be managing the performance of high achievers or ‘mavericks’ who enjoy the buzz of working hard and achieving their goals, even if it means working long hours.

“In the UK it is common place to work long hours, its part of our culture and its why most offices, especially in The City, expect staff to be available beyond the traditional ‘working day’. With the option of overtime (paid or unpaid) potentially taken away from them, ‘mavericks’ can become more disruptive and despondent, and this in itself will have a huge knock on effect on the business if they are not managed appropriately”, says Germain.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in managing Troublesome Talent. You can download their free whitepaper ‘Harnessing Maverick Talents’ at www.developing-leadership.com/whitepapers.html For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.

Maverick’s can be an essential asset to any company however many are misunderstood and are often seen as being disruptive. In this article I look  at the role of Mavericks within any business and how to best harness their talent.

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.

Mavericks are often described by Judith Germain as being wilfully independent, a trait which companies need to utilise if they want to remain competitive and successful. This wilfulness, however, needs to be harnessed because, left unchecked; it can bring down a company with dramatic consequences. Here I advise on the delicate process of balancing the need to encourage a Maverick, whilst restricting their independence to ensure that they can be successful and their employees remain productive, effective and engaged.

When considering some of the true maverick leaders of our time; JFK, Martin Luther King, Richard Branson and Bill Gates, it was their innate sense of leadership and their ability to maintain their vision and belief despite ridicule and criticism that enabled them to succeed where others had failed. In business life, the same challenges occur with many organisations struggling to nurture their ‘mavericks’; people who with the right guidance could probably become the company’s most crucial asset.

Sadly, mavericks tend to be 20 per cent of the most talented employees, causing 80 percent of the company’s problems (also known as Pareto’s 80/20 Rule). Mavericks are naturally impulsive and often don’t think through the consequences of their actions. As a result, organisations often write off mavericks from any kind of talent management programme; deeming them too unpredictable to be considered for promotion. But it is precisely these maverick tendencies which are needed by organisations to survive in the 21^st century and when mavericks see themselves missing out time and time again on promotions and not being recognised for their skill, they can become disruptive and damaging to the organisation.

21^st Century Talent Management

It is clear that the old ways of doing things just aren’t relevant anymore. With more graduates lacking the skills and ability of their predecessors, more mergers, downsizing and de-skilling, combined with more demanding customers, organisations need to be much more flexible and autonomous than ever before if they are to succeed.

Poor performing companies tend to have what I call 20^th Century management thinking, imposing strict command, control and conformity measures on its employees. And the major misinterpretation of European law has results in a one-size fits all approach to management, which lacks the flexibility needed to successfully manage rising talent in an organisation.

Recognising Troublesome Talent

The shortage of highly skilled, talented employees has created a seller’s market, where prime candidates can demand high salaries, ultimate flexibility, but are prepared to give very little in return. They command respect and recognition for their expertise, getting bored quickly when they are not stretched or challenged, resulting in them finding destructive outlets for their talents.

Troublesome Talent are often criticised for their arrogance and negative influence on their peers and often take a defensive or entrenched position. Typically, this situation will lead to higher employee turnover, increased claims of bullying and a drop in team performance.

The first step to regaining the natural balance is to realise that an individualistic approach to managing the team is required. Often, a maverick will need to be treated differently to everyone else and the trick is to find a way of treating them which is specifically tailored for their maverick tendencies, whilst ensuring it remains consistent with the wider employee programme.

Helping harness Maverick Talent

Ironically, mavericks are much more sensitive to being ‘micro-managed’ than other employees, challenging even the simplest of tasks if they think they are being managed rather than led. Often, they refuse to accept instructions that the rest of the team abide by, enjoying their independence and feeling of being in control of their own destiny. As a result they will fight hard to maintain this independence, even if it is likely to go against them in the long run, making it impossible to follow most standard all embracing management approaches.

Mavericks are extremely confident by nature and need to be certain of their success before completing their tasks. This behaviour can manifest itself in a number of ways, most commonly through insisting they have access to the manager whenever they have a query. Mavericks won’t admit they have fears about succeeding and so it is crucial that you give them the time they need to understand the task completely and are confident that it is within their abilities. This does not mean the tasks shouldn’t be challenging as mavericks need to be stretched to stay motivated.

The most important thing to a maverick is recognition and ignoring them is not an option! Failure to recognise their achievements will only result in the engagement of more and more unproductive activities designed to force you to notice them for their ability to cause trouble!

Mavericks like to work to their own timetable and to achieve best performance you should try to find ways to accommodate their creativity, even if it is at odd times of the day! Typically, companies are concerned about the productivity of unsupervised employees, but if you have the respect of your maverick, they will work tirelessly to ensure that your vision is a success.

This will reinforce your trust in the Maverick’s ability to reach peak performance and successful managers are those who have taught the maverick how to gain their trust. Mavericks work well with those they respect and find credible and it is these people who are more likely to enable the maverick to control their behaviour if needed. In fact, managers should enlist the help of anyone they believe has more sway over the maverick than they do!

Keeping control

It is clear that the only way to satisfy the maverick’s specific needs whilst providing the consistency required by the rest of the company is to adopt a leadership style which steers the maverick towards the desired outcome, whilst allowing the maverick to have an agreed, defined amount of autonomy. This will be tricky as mavericks tend to be completely oblivious to the effect that their bluntness has on the morale of others and it can be tempting to revert back to tradition management techniques to bring them back into line – but this must be resisted and replaced with sound, tailored leadership techniques.

Remember, mavericks need boundaries and they will respect you if you enforce them in the right way. Troublesome mavericks need to be given a compelling reason to change their current behaviour and if you manage them correctly, you can unleash their creativity and insight to the benefit of the entire organisation.

I was interviewed by Zhana Brooks from Black Success radio on her Success Strategies show about Economic Self-Empowerment for the Black Community. It aired at 8pm UK time. To hear the interview please click here.

Businesses are heading towards a shortage of talented successors as current managers resist the emerging new work culture of Generation Y, according to a newly released whitepaper from leadership development consultancy Dynamic Transitions. “Generation Y expect more from a company than just a salary and are looking for community and a company that shares their principles and respects their individuality. As a result, traditional incentives are holding little interest for them”, says Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain.

The whitepaper entitled ‘The Generation Game: How to manage a new generation of Mavericks’ argues that managers should be encouraging more extroverts and those with maverick tendencies into the workforce, something which is counter intuitive to most managers and suggests that it this reluctance that is causing companies to struggle to recruit and retain talented Generation Y Mavericks.

It also identifies that Generation X individuals are much more willing and find it acceptable to work longer hours to get ahead in the company, whereas the new Generation Y employees do not accept that they need to be at work for 14 hours to succeed or be promoted.

“There is a distinct clash of culture between the X & Y generations. At the moment ‘Y’ are generally ‘the workforce’, with ‘X’ being ‘the managers’. Managers, especially ‘Baby Boomers’, think employees should do long hours at work and put the needs of the business above all else. Generation Y employees believe that their work can be done without spending hours at work and at a time that is convenient to them”, explains Germain.

“Generation Y are used to digital technology like Playstations, IPods etc that allows them to multi task. This leads them to believe that it’s essential to do many things at once to complete tasks. For example Generation Y employees cannot understand why they can’t sit at their desk listening to their IPod whilst they work. To attempt to do this will lead to disciplinary action by the typical Baby Boomer or Generation X manager” adds Germain.

“Mavericks are something to be encouraged not something to be stopped in terms of the work they are doing. The way you work with mavericks has to be challenging and give them the freedom they need to carry out their role effectively. Whilst the new generation of Maverick has slightly different expectations and skills, they still need to be managed carefully to ensure their energies are channelled to make a positive contribution to the organisation”, adds Germain.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent ® and improving leadership performance within organisations. The full version of the whitepaper can be downloaded from http://www.developing-leadership.com/generationy.html

I was interviewed by John Farrell from Glastonbury Radio on the topic Mavericks in Business. It airs today at 7pm and will be repeated on Friday and Saturday, again at 7pm. You can listen by going direct to the radio station or by clicking here.

Glastonbury Radio receives 1m hits per month and is a diverse and eclectic internet radio station.

Dynamic Transitions are celebrating their most successful event for budding entrepreneurs and business owners to date, after hosting an Exclusive Black Tie Dinner at the elegant La Pont de La Tour Restaurant, London.

The exclusive event, held on 5^th March 2008, brought together twelve ‘mavericks’ who were particular experts in their field and provided a relaxed environment for stimulating conversation, business awareness and advocacy.

Following a Champagne and Canapés reception, dinner was served in the Salon Privé, the restaurants exclusive Private Dining Room.

Attendees travelled from places as diverse as Devon and Lewes to attend and one guest delayed an important meeting in Germany until the next day to attend.

Another guest, Allison McSparron-Edwards, the MD of Consultrix, spent over £300 on expenses just to get to the event, but commented that it was “worth every penny it took to get here”.

The event was hosted by Dynamic Transitions, a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent® and improving leadership performance within organisations. The Maverick Black Tie Dinner was the latest in a number of Maverick Events for the Maverick Community whose membership comprises 120 entrepreneurs and business owners from across the country.

“Mavericks are wilfully independent, a characteristic which is found in many great leaders. In today’s competitive world, extraordinary results will not come from being ordinary” explains Judith Germain, founder of Dynamic Transitions and co-author of Amazon’s number 2 best seller ‘BusinessWise’.

“I am passionate about helping leaders and business owners draw out the positive aspects of maverick behaviour from within themselves and their teams and this is facilitated within the formal but relaxed environment of our Maverick Events” add Germain who also leads a number of online and offline communities where she enables the members to learn how to harness their talent to improve their business performance and productivity.

Maverick Events are by invitation only and are in extremely high demand. Entrepreneurs and business owners are warmly encouraged to contact Judith Germain (jude@dynamic-transitions.co.uk) if they would like to be considered for the next Maverick Event.