What makes CORE work?
Colleague David directed us to this book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by author Daniel Pink, which looks at how staff can be motivated to produce their best work.
As Pink discusses in the book, humans are biologically wired to specific factors that can help them be more productive: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Key things which resonate with me and reminded me of how CORE Education works included:
- Autonomy – a person’s desire to direct our lives in the direction we want, instead of being told what to do, or where to go. At CORE we believe in empowering our staff- providing what we hope is a safe and supportive environment, but also one in which creativity and innovation are recognised and valued;
- Mastery (the urge to learn new things and master new skills)- CORE tries to work at the cutting edge of new technology and our IT Team work hard to find new and exciting tools for us to use. CORE also places great value in professional development, and all staff are encouraged to utilise the time and money allocated to PD to extend themselves personally and professionally. We also have six-weekly whole company Prof Learning sessions run by staff members, which explore key topics of interest or areas of our work;
- Money isn’t everything- which CORE tries to match comparable salaries in the sector many of our staff could earn more and have longer holidays if thy remained at schools or universities- CORE offers something (maybe intangible) that encourages staff to stay despite these market pressures and we are blessed with a very low turnover of our staff.
- Innovation- Pink notes that start-up companies have more opportunity to innovate and to operate on non-traditional ways- whilst CORE has been in operation for 7 years now I hope we can continue to encourage and support our staff to keep thinking outside that square.
I have only had time to read the highlights so far, but have added this book to my growing list of must reads- have some long plane journeys coming up so might even get a chance in the near future.

















Thought Leaders can ignite imaginations, stimulate fresh approaches, and challenge assumptions. We have assembled a wide-ranging line up of presenters drawing on the university and schooling sector, business entrepreneurs, and telecommunication representatives, who will each provide a powerful idea, challenge or trend.
The day will be divided into four themed sessions, with four presenters and a short plenary for each theme. Each speaker gives a 20 minute presentation, and presenter details are
John Drummond, Blair Professor of Music at the University of Otago, will invite us to consider how we can open up our minds and find once more the creativity we had as kids, and how technology can stimulate our creative juices.
Ernie Newman from TUANZ will be reflecting on the importance of education in the government’s ultra fast broadband project. He will emphasise the opportunity to re-define the interface between school and home, and identify some of the “people Issues” that need to be addressed so that ultra fast broadband truly ushers in a new paradigm for NZ schools.
