Motivation, purpose and drive

At previous MD2MD meetings, I have heard the frustration that I often hear expressed by Managing Directors about staff that do the job ‘ok’, follow the processes and follow the rules – but only just. The frustration being ‘How do I get them to use their brain and ‘go the extra mile’ to deliver excellent customer service?

I think the answer is in principle quite simple, although I accept it is difficult to achieve in practice. And it has something to do with the way that in today’s world people doing customer service jobs that require intelligent thought, creativity and common sense need to be motivated in a different way to the carrot and stick model that we often assume is universally applicable.

A year or so I read a great book that for me dealt with this issue excellently – A book called Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink.  You can click the link to purchase from Amazon or read on – As usual I am pleased to share with the Managing Directors that read my blog the insights in a simple summary. Today in a video from the RSA:

Written by Bob Bradley, founder of MD2MD.