Why “Crushing Those Goals” Offers Zero Motivation To Us Introverts.

Three things you can do instead, to motivate your introverted employees — or yourself.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

I’ve written before about how I realized I was an introvert and what it’s like to be an introvert CEO. Today, I’m sharing another puzzle piece that has helped me understand motivation, goal-oriented behaviors, and my own drives.

How I found meaning in a dead-end Dutch customer service desk

Once upon a time, I briefly worked as a phone customer service rep in the Netherlands. This job was laden with numbers, goals and targets. All of them arbitrary and pointless, at least to us “on the phone”.

My SLA was 72 calls per day. But since this made-up goal did not mean anything to me, I soon came up with my own goal. Triple-digits (more than 100 calls per day) posed more of a challenge to me— and somehow felt less arbitrary.

Also, a list of the calls each agent had answered the day before was posted daily on a notice board, right at the office entrance. Huge demotivational move for most people, of course— except to me, who was always top 3.

So, why am I telling you this? To brag about my customer service phone skills? Nah. The key…