February 20, 2006
How to manage a maverick: eight tips from the front lines
Over at Computerworld, Mary K. Pratt shares eight tips for dealing with mavericks in the workplace. Most “how-to” management pieces focus on how to make a workforce more innovative. What if, though, the very people who are “innovative” within your organization are also difficult to manage? Managing a maverick is different from managing other workers since mavericks are, by very definition, “nonconformists”:
“They’re passionate about their work; creative, curious and energetic; willing to take risks; unafraid to stand alone or fight for an unpopular position; evangelical in their passion for change; and at once insightful and annoying. Mavericks provide essential reality checks. Because they may refuse to follow a process they consider stupid, mavericks might be described as complainers, irritants and dissidents. But smart managers recognize their value. Mavericks help people think differently, and they do it by just showing up.”
With that in mind, here are eight tips on how to work with the mavericks within your organization:
(1) Engage them. Draw out their ideas, listen to their questions, and provide them with the information they need to fully understand initiatives rather than brushing them off.
(2) Coach them. Help mavericks learn to navigate office politics and present ideas in ways that are appropriate for the company’s culture.
(3) Enlist peers. Ask a colleague to do some peer mentoring.
(4) Work with their strengths. Give mavericks “their own place to play” – a role where their restlessness and skepticism can be channeled to good use, such as working on a team that’s dealing with an intractable problem.
(5) Give them space. Mavericks need challenges and the leeway to meet them.
(6) Beware of the Peter Principle. Mavericks often find that the demands of management don’t mesh with their style.
(7) Show respect. Don’t label mavericks as complainers or troublemakers. Don’t ignore them, either, by passing them over when making assignments to key committees and the like.
(8) Draw the line. Decide how much maverick behavior is too much.
