Do you know your © Maverick Impact™? Maverick Leadership is an everyday aspiration, it is a leadership philosophy; and as such anyone can pursue it. Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ [1] is a leadership methodology that looks at who you ARE and what you DO. It has 6 components that work concurrently and enables the Maverick Leader to have substantial influential impact on their organisation and the people within it.
Here’s a graphical representation of the Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ Methodology:
Whether you wish to pursue Maverick Leadership or the Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ Methodology, maximising your leadership impact is something that all leaders are expected to do.
What is the © Maverick Impact™?
The © Maverick Impact™ is the fusion of © Maverick Drive™ (to Strategise, Innovate, and Execute) with Maverick Behaviour™ (Maverick thinking, doing and being), and the ability to provide a Game-Changing Impact (utilisation of the Strategist, Game Changer, Implementer, Polisher and Strategist proclivities). The © Maverick Impact™ reduces capability gaps in the leader and the organisation. By utilising it, true transformational leadership and therefore change is possible.
© Maverick Drive
Maverick DRIVEN Leaders™, those that follow the Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ Methodology, naturally use their © Maverick Drive™ to come up with novel solutions that fulfil the strategy and are executed well.
The ability to utilise © Maverick Drive™ is something that can be learnt however, so innate ability is not necessary. At The Maverick Paradox we are finding that several clients see this (Maverick Drive™ – Strategise, Innovate, Execute) as a foundational component to the success of their organisation.
Why understand and execute Maverick Drive™ within the organisation?
We have found and our clients have confirmed, that the biggest leadership failing right now is the inability to balance the needs of all stakeholders with the objectives of the organisation.
Millennials (aged between 23-39) already make up the largest number of workers in the workplace with Generation Z (aged between 10-22) set to continue this trend of younger more tech savvy, ethically minded individuals. What organisations are seeing right now are individuals in leadership positions or with leadership responsibilities struggling to utilise strategic thinking in their deliberations.
With flatter organisations and a lifetime of education prioritising ‘group work’, and consensus, ‘get-a-long’ leadership – the ability to think for and by yourself at a long term issue is becoming difficult for this cohort of people. This is often due to a prevalence of short-termism and the simple fact of not seeing strategic thinking demonstrated or practiced often enough.
Therefore, small ‘s’ strategy is substituted instead. Rather than considering the bigger picture, concentration becomes focused on the strategy of a singular idea and how this can be implemented. This is a problem especially as strategic planning is often used as a substitute for strategic thinking. Therefore missing the opportunity for thinking around the bigger problem.
One of the client most asked for components of our Maverick Leadership programmes, is Strategic Thinking. Following Strategic Thinking there is Creative Thinking, which encompasses the ability to innovate. The innovation capability is the key factor for the future competitiveness of a company. To implement disruptive innovation, first the employees need to be in the right environment and have the right mindset. Innovation can be seen as imagining a novel solution to an existing or potential problem.
A frequent problem with organisations is the inability to execute which is a critical skill, both for the individual and the company. There is more, however, to this skill. It is important to be able to execute well, it is essential that you execute on the ideas and objectives that will fulfil the right overall strategy.
© Maverick Drive™ enables the individual, the leader and the organisation to Strategise, Innovate and Execute. Thereby increasing individual and organisational effectiveness, competitive advantage and alignment of individual and organisational capability. Do you know your © Maverick Impact™?
Maverick Behaviour™
In my book The Maverick Paradox: The Secret Power Behind Successful Leadership I spend a lot of time talking about the components of and reasons for Maverick Behaviour™. Therefore I will not spend a lot of time discussing it here, but will share four articles below:
It is sufficient to remark that Maverick Thinking occurs in the intersection of the © Maverick Drive™ activities of strategising and innovation. Maverick Leaders tend to be emergent thinkers and fluid reasoners as well as employing more well known thinking techniques such as:
- convergent
- divergent
- critical
- creative
Maverick thinking, similar to strategic thinking allows the individual and the organisation to start with the big picture and narrow down to a granular picture. Thus ensuring that all angles are covered.
I have been defining mavericks as wilfully independent people since 2005, and recognise that Maverick Being occurs at the © Maverick Drive™ intersection of Innovation and Execution. Maverick Being looks at emulating how Socialised Mavericks see the world, their mindset and personality. They are execution and output driven and seek to find the novel, unexpected but effective solution.
Fortunately, anyone can become a Maverick Leader and learn to see the innovation in the execution of task and strategy.
Finally Maverick Doing is how the strategy is executed. In this area both big ‘s’ and small ‘s’ strategy is examined and executed. It is in this sphere that the final decision on how the strategy is to be executed is decided. The Maverick Leader ensures that their Maverick Behaviour™ enables their © Maverick Drive™ to become more effective.
The Game-Changing Impact
The final piece of the Maverick Impact™ puzzle is how the Game-Changing Impact (GC Index) proclivities are activated during a Maverick Leader’s day to day activities.
The GC Index® is a radical re-think of how organisations identify and nurture key talent; identifying how people at all levels in organisations make their best impact.
The GC Index
Each proclivity thinks and reacts in a different way. Here are some statements and questions asked by each proclivity:
You will see from the diagram above, your Game-Changing Impact is made up of 5 proclivities:
- Game-Changer – who sees possibilities
- Strategist – sees patterns
- Implementer – sees practicalities
- Polisher – sees potential
- Playmaker – sees people
It is usual to have 2 or 3 top proclivities that you naturally operate from. We help you to balance your Game-Changing impact so that you can achieve your best outcomes.
Do you know your © Maverick Impact™?
Your © Maverick Impact™ holds the balance between your © Maverick Drive™, Maverick Behaviour™ and Game-Changing Impact. It is important to know what your © Maverick Impact™ is, because when activated there is concurrent alignment and analysis of the problem or challenge before you. In the analysis stage, potential issues of implementation, execution and people are ironed out and a faux review conducted. All before actual implementation of an idea.
This has the advantage of ensuring that an idea is well tested, before it’s ready for execution.
The © Maverick Impact™ is more than a tool for thinking through problems, it is at the heart of your ability to influence and achieve your leadership objectives. It is also in constant flux as the © Maverick Drive™, Maverick Behaviour™ and Game-Changing Impact works with each other concurrently, in an attempt to deliver the best outcomes.
If you can imagine it, your © Maverick Impact™ works together in perfect harmony like these wonderful kinetic art sculptures below:
Knowing, understanding and utilising your © Maverick Impact™ will accelerate your leadership impact and improve the innovation capability of the entire organisation.
Contact us below if you would like to discover how to activate yours:
Footnote
[1] Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ – Judith Germain. The Maverick Paradox: The Secret Power Behind Successful Leaders (PublishNation) 2017
[2] Maverick Impact – Copyright Judith Germain
