Maverick Mastery®

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.

Tags: Maverick, Talent Management

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Articles, Talent Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.