The essential reason that makes things to happen

Brave and essential. Euan Semple, ex-head of KM at BBC, dares to talk about an unusual term in management. A concept always hidden or dismissed in our current learning in this field, but certainly somehow prevalent: he talks about love.

It’s not about "loving our work" or "loving success"...but about that very intrinsically motivating force that makes things to happen. As Semple mentions: a deep sense of connection with each other at work, a depth of purpose beyond the every day that sees customers as more than merely stepping stones on the way to returning that value to the shareholders.

"Where did all this come from, where did the idea that the most powerfully motivating force in the world had nothing to do with business? We spend most of our adult lives in the workplace and at work we bring about the most important and long lasting changes to our society and our planet, and yet we are not encouraged to talk in terms of love" – he says.

What I admire in his note (published in Knowledge Board and adapted from a blog post in Euan Semple's weblog "The Obvious?") is the reflection on the essential reasons for being 8 hours per day / 5 days a week in "that place". I remember some of the original ideas about management from Charles Handy or Peter Drucker.

Semple describes a situation that perfectly define what we are talking about: "Three months ago we had a closing down party for DigiLab, my small but perfectly formed department at the BBC, and the next morning I started to write a post about love at work and what a powerful motivating force it can be. But I stopped myself. I let myself be influenced by those grown up voices in my head telling me not to be so silly - certainly not in public! But the warmth and affection we felt for each other, for our physical space in Television Centre and yes, sorry guys, for the punters who we dealt with on a daily basis over the years had more to do with love than anything else I can think of and certainly little to do with those extrinsic motivators - money, corporate goals and efficiency that we we were meant to have taken so seriously".

Turning back to motivating factors, here we have again the proud of ourselves, based on our collective achievement. Internet and the collaborative tools designed for working, learning and sharing knowledge are key drivers if well used and understood. Web 2.0, much more plural and decentralised at building knowledge is a powerful example.

Related links

Euan Semple's weblog The Obvious?

All you need is love