Every business has them, and you probably won't have to think too hard to write two or three names down from your company. The people I am referring to are Mavericks - also known as Troublesome Talent. They are both good and bad for a business, but do need special management to harness their skills. The lady that defined the phrase Troublesome Talent, Judith Germain of Dynamic Transitions, defines Mavericks as simply," Being Willfully Independent".
The upside of these Mavericks is that they are very talented, creative individuals that are extremely passionate about their work and are very comfortable challenging the established status quo. They have no fear confronting authority - but often do so with constructive ideas and arguments. Although some times they can be too confrontational and aggressive in the style. Larger organisations, with more rigid management structures may find it hard to deal with such Mavericks, because of their inflexible corporate nature. SME's and mid -sized companies, however, seem to be the ideal arena for Mavericks to flourish.
So with Talent Management such a key issue, should the big corporates try and get hold of, and harness these Mavericks? The answer is yes, but only if they are prepared.
When such companies start a recruitment campaign, there are three things that always seem to appear on the candidate requirement, as ideal extras to the core job description :
- Highly skilled
- Creativity in their area of expertise
- Able to think outside the box
So, if candidates have met the normal criteria for a job role AND meet these three extra criteria, they are then usually tagged as Top Talent. Typically they are then fast tracked through some these companies, being seen as tomorrow's leaders. And initially they perform well - they are innovators, competitive, flexible, over deliver and more importantly because of all these, customers and clients alike, absolutely love them!
However. as they become more successful, they invariably rise through the ranks, slowly moving higher up into corporate management - more rules, more structure and less flexibility. Three things that are completely opposite to why Mavericks are successful in the first place. So it is no surprise that things start to deteriorate quite quickly.
Of course things are now very different for the Maverick in their new role, the company will expect them to be more responsible and "corporate-like". They will not appreciate the brash, confrontational approach that has proved to be so successful for them previously. These Mavericks will now be exposed to company politics, and of course won't be as skilled at it as their peers. This is all completely alien to the Maverick, and will only mean one thing - disruption for everyone. Ultimately of course, the Maverick will either leave or get moved on - a loss of someone that THEY originally defined as top talent.
So how do companies engage with these Mavericks?
There of course is no easy answer. The main thing is that their first needs to be a level of acceptance of change from the companies. When they first identify these talented individuals, certain traits of 'maverickism' will already be showing -especially if profiling tests have been done in the assessment process.
Companies then need to look at the Maverick's drivers and their motivators, and then look to align the individuals needs and wants to the business objectives. Once both sides are on the same wavelength, and are in agreement of direction, with a clear career path ahead, then the Maverick can go off and do what they do best - over achieve!
This may sound like too much trouble for some companies, but they need to remember, that these individuals ARE over achievers. They WILL over produce AND keep your clients and customers very happy as well! To fully embrace these Mavericks, companies will have to be brave to be different, flexible in their approach to management and be prepared for some pain, to achieve the pleasure of better performance.
