Leading the Professionals: How to Inspire and Motivate Professional Service Teams

Citation

(2004), "Leading the Professionals: How to Inspire and Motivate Professional Service Teams", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 53 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2004.07953dae.005

Leading the Professionals: How to Inspire and Motivate Professional Service Teams

Leading the Professionals: How to Inspire and Motivate Professional Service Teams

Geoff SmithKogan PageISBN: 0749439963£18.99

Geoff Smith has practical experience working within, and leading professional service teams (law, accountancy, advertising agencies, architectural practices, etc.) – and it shows. He suggests that the kinds of individuals who end up in professional services are often independent thinkers – self-motivated, single-minded, self-starters. These are all admirable qualities until you want such strong individuals to work as a team.

This book puts together a set of questionnaires, exercises, case examples and direct quotes to explore the motivations of these individuals and to provide guidance on co-ordinating, inspiring and motivating them as a team. Because they are strong individuals, this includes advice on helping team members get the best out of themselves, in addition to getting the best out of them working together.

There are sections on leadership, on project teams and on influencing skills. All in all, this is a highly practical and readable book.