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Grant: how customers can rally your troops

4 important questions on Grant: how customers can rally your troops

A frowing body of research shows that end users are surprisingly effective in motivating people to work harder, smarter and more productively. But the power of end users goes beyond this ability. Explain this? (Grant)

There is found that employees generally see end users as more credible than leaders as sources of inspiration. The majority of employees ar cynical about the leaders' motives and intentions. End users can show that the leaders message is more than rhetoric. Different end users are also able to give distinct messages.

The research of Grant suggests that outsourcing inspiration is effective in a wide range of settings (f.e. scholarships and fundraisers). Three basic mechanisms are at work, explain them:

1 Impact: employees see for themselves how their work benefits others.
2 Appreciation: employees come to feel valued by end users
3 Empathy: employees develop a deeper understanding of end users' problems and needs and thereby becomes more committed.

To outsource inspiration effectively, leaders must build and leverage their networks to find end users, collect their stories, invite them to the organization, introduce them to employees, and recognize workers contributions. How can leaders accomplish this according to Grant?

1 Identify past, present and future end users
2 Dig up feedback from past end users
3 Seek out new stories (go into the field).
4 Set up events and meeting where end users can share their experiences (face-to-face connection has a stronger impact than f.e. a letter)
5 Turn employees into end users (spend time in customers' shoes)
6 Find end users inside the organization
7 Engage employees who currently do low impact work.
8 Spread the message (video events with end users and spread the videos)
9 Recognize high-impact contributions (excellent customer service)

What can you do according to Grant, when you can't find end users?

1 Show pictures (f.e. of patients on k-rays of radiologists)
2 Circulate inside stories (employees share stories about experiences with end users)
3 Share outside stories (f.e. tell lifeguards about other lifeguards that rescued swimmers)

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Managing Service Innovation | Flikkema

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