Being wilful in your leadership

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People are fascinated with those that appear to be in charge, especially if their antics are entertaining or deviates from the norm. For example, we have seen world leaders capture our attention because of their appeal to the ‘baser instincts’ of man as their way to enforce the Legitimate Power that I spoke about in my article?‘the internal power of successful leaders’.?

Leaders that are dedicated to the greater good principle, who strategise, innovate, and execute, staying calm in a crisis, aligning their followers to exceed expectations, have tended to be misunderstood and underestimated.

Until now.

Today we survey a world which is complex, constantly shifting and evolving. The pace of change is rapid and constant, ready to trample those that aren’t ready to move with purpose. With all the uncertainty around us, one thing is certain.?

Trusted leaders quickly become our beacon, our light in the darkness that illuminates the path. Successful leaders enable us to blaze our own journey to executing an aligned strategic direction. These Maverick Leaders will not settle for blind obedience, they want your heart and your mind, willingly given, because you have tested their character and intention … and found it true.

Organisations need real leaders

The sudden onslaught of the pandemic has surfaced much that had been kept hidden in the hearts and minds of the modern employee and consumer. Many have been hiding a growing, unspoken unease that things are not quite right and a restlessness that could be expressed with the despairing question, ‘is this it?’ or ‘Is that all that I am?’

Clearly, we desperately need a new type of leader. In my article?‘Leadership is personal’,?I described the Maverick Leader as an individual no longer being vilified as too challenging and contrary. Today we willingly turn to them to assist us in our struggle with this decade of the complex and constantly shifting. We need leaders that can help others answer the questions ‘is this it?’ or ‘is that all that I am?’ for themselves. Great leaders care about these questions being honestly addressed – always striving to ensure that they and the people they impact, can answer these questions, and do something positive with the answers that they discover.

For when they do, the individuals grow and succeed, and so do the organisations that they represent.

Organisations need to have relevant leadership

A modern organisation needs to remain relevant in its marketplace and importantly, with its employees. Poor employee relations translate to poor consumer ones. What began in earnest during 2020 will continue apace over the next 5 – 10 years; there will be a merging of the company and employer brands. There will only be one brand, because everyone with a stake in the organisation will insist on full transparency and authenticity.?

Wilful, Maverick Leaders, understand that the ‘one brand’ is not a concept to be confused with the idea of the ‘one ring to rule them all’ of Tolkien fame, but what I define as the?‘one brand that illuminates all’. For those organisations that do not live the brand they market, they will be punished by their consumers and employees alike.?

With the influence of social media, recovery may be long in coming, if at all.

When you apply my principle that having ‘one brand illuminates all’, you demonstrate an ability to utilise Maverick Leadership principles. When you find yourself buffeted by the storms of unavoidable change you will become capable of bending and thriving like the willow.

This is the advantage of being wilful in your leadership.

Wilful leadership requires Maverick attributes

To be wilful in your leadership requires an understanding of what is meant by this phrase. In this context ‘wilful leadership’ is about being a leader that understands the leadership experience that they demonstrate, can align values, are principled and determined to execute their objectives whilst adhering to the greater good principle. These wilful leaders take their ability to strategise, innovate and execute to include and empower individuals to become conscious and effective leaders. They are influential leaders because they are trusted and highly competent and genuinely care for those around them. An organisation that nurtures this type of wilful leadership is likely to have a brand that calls consumers and employees alike.

Wilful leadership, that has positive, sustainable outcomes, is not reliant on having a glut of Mavericks[1]?within the workplace. It does, however, mean having individuals that deploy Maverick Leadership principles, in how they lead themselves and others within the organisation to sustainable effect.

All potent Maverick Leaders understand the WHINES?[2]?attributes that are required for success.

W is for Wilful Intention

By having wilful intention as a key maverick attribute, you can be assured that the Maverick Leader will be focused on solving and implementing the correct solution to the problem, in the most efficient way. To understand the term wilful intention as it relates to Maverick Leadership, we will need to first look at the dictionary definition of the individual words wilful and intention. Wilful suggests a stubborn persistence in doing what one wishes, especially in opposition to those wishes or commands that ought to be respected or obeyed (dictionary.com) Intention is something that you mean to do.?

Therefore, someone who is determined to do something regardless of what other people think or wish has a wilful intention.

Successful Maverick Leaders ensure that their wilful intention is deployed to enhance positive outcomes and respects the greater good principle.

H is for Honest Belief

All Maverick Leaders are motivated by their own honest belief, it is an internal driver that they are compelled in the first instance, to follow. It is a foundation block for their integrity and directs how their leadership is played out. These leaders will encourage all those around them to pursue and analyse their own and other’s honest belief, to achieve the most optimal outcomes.

Recognising that as a leader you are responsible for your own actions, and are unable to distance yourself from your actions, is why Maverick Leaders abhor blind obedience. They distrust the decisions that flow from blind obedience and encourage others to make decisions that they will stand by and commit to. Organisations that encourage leaders to accept responsibility for the authority they have are the ones that stand the test of time, with employees that are proud to work for them and consumers happy to buy from them.

Great organisations understand that only when a decision is challenged can it be found to be true.?

Maverick Leaders tend to challenge for a specific identifiable reason. They have a strong sense of ‘the?truth’?and will pursue ‘the?truth’?and encourage others to do so as well. Maverick Leaders will take great care to ensure that ‘the truth’, is an objective truth, that will stand the test of time. They will seek out as much data as possible to be sure that they are making a good decision. This intellectual discourse or challenge is often the reason they are persuasive and influential.?

I is for Influential

Without trying all Maverick Leaders are influential. Maverick Leaders are natural influencers and people tend to look to them for cues as to what to think or how to behave. Real influence comes from being trusted; and engendering and giving trust is a necessary ability to learn and demonstrate. Organisations often rely on the influence and reputation of Maverick Leaders to champion change and align others to the company mission and values. Without trusted and trustworthy leaders, influence isn’t possible, and change is hard.

N is for kNowledgeable

For Maverick Leaders it is important to be more than a specialist in your chosen field, you need to be knowledgeable. True knowledge comes from understanding the whole picture. This means you understand your role, your function, and what becomes before and after it.

For example, if you worked in Marketing, you would be a specialist in marketing and would also understand the sales and operations functions within the organisation. Only then could you become truly knowledgeable in your role. You would understand the dependencies for all stakeholders as well as the effect of your decisions. When you are working in your role, you begin to consider the impact on the whole organisation and what is best for it, not only what’s best for marketing.

This desire to be continuously learning and putting into action what has been learnt is what drives many Maverick Leaders to operate as intrapreneurs – bringing great value to the organisation.

E is for Execution and Output driven

One of the biggest failings of leaders is that they are often not execution and output driven. They may be able to ‘talk a good game’, in such that they have many good cogent ideas on what needs to be achieved, or the effect that a change may have on a situation, but when pushed, they appear clueless on exactly how this change should be achieved. They have planned the communication and implementation of the change but not whether the change will have the desired effect. They are in fact wishing that if the implementation goes well, a good outcome will naturally fall from it.

The wilful leadership of Maverick Leaders means they will challenge potential solutions to ensure that the solution is likely to succeed. This is from a place of good intention rather than ego fulfilment. Organisations would benefit from having more empowered leaders (regardless of the title) within the organisation.

S is for Success driven

Maverick Leaders excel in the pursuit of success whilst embracing the possibility of failure, although they will refuse to commit to an action destined to fail. Therefore, they ask lots of questions prior to beginning their work. They want to ensure that they truly understand what the task is, the dependencies, timelines, and drivers. They will look for what is hidden to ensure that true success is possible and take an objective and holistic approach.

Today we survey a world which is complex, constantly shifting and evolving. The pace of change is rapid and constant, ready to trample those that aren’t ready to move with purpose. With all the uncertainty around us, one thing is certain.

We need the right type of wilfulness in our leadership to succeed for our organisations and ourselves.

Will you stand firm in your conviction that you can influence the change that is needed and be able to empower your organisations to become what it could be, with integrity, empathy and passion?

[1]?Maverick – wilfully independent person. Judith Germain 2005.

[2]?WHINES??- The Maverick Paradox: The Secret Power Behind Successful Leaders PublishNation 2017

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Judith Germain?is the founder and principal consultant of?The Maverick Paradox,?a leadership consultancy that utilises Maverick Leadership principles to enable business owners, leaders, the C-Suite, and organisations, thrive in complex, constantly changing environments by improving their diversity of thought, impact and influence and leadership capability.?

She is the leading authority on Maverick Leadership, an author, C-Suite and CEO Mentor, consultant, trainer, and speaker. Judith is a Brainz 500 Global honouree, recognised as one of 500 Companies and Influential Leaders who are recognised for their entrepreneurial success, achievements, and dedication to helping others.

Full bio and how to work with Judith at?maverickparadox.co.uk