1406: The Myth of Motivation by JL Collins on Good Hiring Practices & Business Management

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[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: The Myth of Motivation by JL Collins of JLCollinsNH.com

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Alec Baldwin with his best flinty-eyed glare announces the new sales contest.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: First prize, he says, is a brand new Cadillac Eldorado.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Second prize is this set of steak knives.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Third prize, You're Fired.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_01]: The movie is Glen Gary Glen Ross.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Baldwin is the ruthless sales manager addressing his motley crew of losers and has-beens.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Their mission is to sell questionable land developments.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: His is to motivate them.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Here lies one of the most pervasive concerns of executives everywhere.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_01]: How to motivate the troops.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01]: An entire industry has been built around this question.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Contests and incentive plans abound.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Indeed, I've implemented and participated in my share over the years.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: No question they can be fun, even useful,

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: but they can't instill fundamental motivation where it doesn't already exist.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Let me share with you a story.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Bob was a sales guy for a major Midwest company.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: This company was fond of sales contests and Bob routinely won the top prize.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: He got to the point where his boss, with Bob's consent,

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: would rig the contests so someone else could win occasionally,

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: just so the rest of the troops wouldn't get discouraged.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Not surprisingly, one day, Bob was asked to address a sales meeting and share his secret

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_01]: for consistently turning in the top winning numbers.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: What, he was asked, do you do to win when a contest is announced?

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Nothing, said Bob.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_01]: While collecting the prizes is kinda nice,

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: the truth is I find these contests vaguely insulting.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_01]: The implication is that day to day I'm not doing my job,

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: not giving my best effort, not going after every sale I could.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Management seems to feel they have to bribe us to get our best performance.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't say much for their view of our professionalism.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So the contests come and go and I pay very little attention.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I focus on doing my job the best way I know how, and if that means I win,

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: that's okay too.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Bob was then asked, so what motivates you?

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And he replied, quote, the most motivating thing any manager ever did for me was to

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: say that the best thing he could do was to stay out of my way and let me do my job.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And then he did just that.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I made him and our company a lot of money during those years

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: and loved every minute of it, end quote.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: A fairly striking response.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: When I've had bosses like that, it certainly worked for me, for you too I'd guess.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So where does all this motivation come from?

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, there's good news and bad news.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: The bad news is that despite everything you may have heard to the contrary,

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: as a manager you have very little influence in motivating your people.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_01]: The good news is, it doesn't matter.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Years ago a major airline ran a TV ad with the tagline,

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_01]: we don't teach our people to be nice, we hire nice people.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_01]: What a great shortcut.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And it strikes upon a profound truth.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01]: People form their basic behavior patterns at a very young age.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Psychologists tell us that by the time we are five years old,

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: we have our fundamental personalities in place.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Some say it's largely genetic.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: If you want nice people, you'd better hire nice people.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: If you want motivated people, you'd better hire people with motivation.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: The harsh truth is, there's not much you can do to instill it if it's not already there.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Fortunately for your company and companies across the country,

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: the vast majority of people already have a healthy dose of motivation built in.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: They come to new jobs, new assignments,

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: new challenges, and new opportunities already fired up.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, in all too many cases,

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: they then have it beaten out of them by the relentless bureaucracy and

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: mismanagement of the very organizations they are trying so hard to serve.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: My favorite business consultant is fond of saying,

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: most companies succeed in spite of the way they are managed, not because of it.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Put another way, given half a chance,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: most people are so profoundly self-motivated,

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: they rise above the way they're managed.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Bosses should worry less about motivating people and focus more on

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_01]: making sure they and their organizations are not actively,

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_01]: if unintentionally, demotivating them.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Back off a bit and let people blossom.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Allow that built-in motivation to expand and grow.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_01]: If motivation is a fire, you can't build it in others.

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It has to already be there,

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_01]: but just not throwing on a bucket of water works wonders.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, too many bosses and organizations are addicted to that water.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: They may have been raised and trained on it.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Bad management theories have them convinced that if they just

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: beat on people long and hard enough, they will straighten up and fly right.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It never works.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like trying to teach a pig to fly.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: You can only hope to fail, frustrate yourself, and irritate the pig.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: We might do well to remember the first creed of physicians.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Above all, do no harm.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_01]: You just listened to the post titled The Myth of Motivation by J.L. Collins of jlcollinsnh.com.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_01]: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_01]: We all have non-negotiables.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you never skip leg day or have to take your morning walks.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: But when your schedule is packed with kids' activities, big work projects, and more,

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: it's easy to let your priorities slip.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Even when we know what makes us happy, it's hard to make time for it.

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[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: therapy can be a great tool for setting boundaries,

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: learning positive coping skills,

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: and ultimately becoming the best version of yourself.

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[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: That's BetterHelp.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: H-E-L-P dot com slash workdaily.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to thank J.L., who is an accomplished consultant,

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_01]: author, and speaker, and has retired but continues to write on his blog.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: He also has a really popular stock series that's worth checking out,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: and the site again is J.L. Collins, N-H, where the N-H stands for New Hampshire.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're a listener of the podcast Optimal Finance Daily,

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01]: then that name should sound familiar because we regularly narrate his work over there.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01]: He typically does write about personal finance, and his book,

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: The Simple Path to Wealth, is regularly mentioned on that show too.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's very highly reviewed.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It's got a five star rating with over 5,000 reviews on Amazon,

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: so that is definitely worth checking out if you're interested in building wealth

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: in the simplest way possible.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Again, the book is called The Simple Path to Wealth,

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and you can find that along with a lot more info about and content from J.L.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: over at JLCollinsNH.com.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And that is going to wrap up our episode today.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Hope you enjoyed it, and that you'll be back with me tomorrow,

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_01]: where your Optimal Life awaits.