229. The Motivation Vacuum

Welcome to another episode of at the Table with Patrick Lincione where everything we talk about is related to organizational health and the world of work. I'm Pat Lynchioni, your host, joined by the full crew today of Beau, Cody, Tracy, all of whom are fine, got Karen sitting next to me, Matt behind the glass producing. Cody. What is our topic today?

The motivation vacuum.

Right. I wish we, we all said we wish we had recorded the last 20 minutes of us preparing to do this talk because we had such an interesting conversation about what is this really about. And we finally figured it out and it's interesting to hear us doing that. And so maybe one of these days we'll just film the pre conversation so people can see how the sausage gets made. Although we're still going to talk about it in a very open way. We haven't figured it out completely, but here's the premise here, and that is everyone who comes to work, whether they're arriving at a new job for the first time or they're coming every day after that, whether they're going to an interview and they're being talked to, or whether it's their daily routine, there is a motivation for them. They're doing it for a particular reason. And an organization, a leader of an organization, needs to align people around what I call their primary motivation, like why we're here and what we're trying to do. On a macro basis, we talk about that as the core purpose of an organization, why we exist. Jim Collins would call it the core purpose. And then on a micro level, it's what we talk about in the truth, about employee engagement or the three signs of a miserable job before that, which is why is your job relevant? Why does it matter? Okay. And a company, a leader, has to connect that macro purpose to the daily motivation and relevance of why people work. And we call this the motivation vacuum. Because if a company is not doing that, and most don't, actually, most don't daily remind their people, like why we we're doing what we're doing. People will fill that vacuum of motivation with whatever's going on in their life and their circumstances and their. And that leads to dissolution, frustration and division within a company. So that's what we're going to talk about today. That's my little opening spiel. Now let's unpack this, everybody.

And there's so much here that we can talk about, both as leaders and as team members, about leading other people and help fueling the right motivation and also for ourselves, making sure we're aligned to Whatever the organization's motivation is. One of the things we talked about, Pat, is so many people come into an organization with the motivation that's aligned. It might be the most aligned it ever is when they start. We were talking about nurses that almost every nurse that you've met got into that industry because they want to care for people. I remember years ago, my dad's a physician, and I remember sitting with a group of physicians asking them, hey, tell me, why did you guys all go to medical school? And every one of them went around as like, I wanted to help people. I wanted to heal people. I wanted to help people get better.

And.

And you could see the look on their face of, oh, yeah, I forgot that that was my driving motivation. Because then what happens is. And this happens to all of us, we get around other people, there's a little bit of politics and infighting. We start to wonder if we're enough. Maybe we begin chasing applause or a promotion or the next raise, and all of a sudden that initial motivation starts to get smaller and smaller and another motivation is creeping in.

Yeah. You know, and it's interesting because I spent my first night at a hospital in the last month. I hadn't been there in a long time, and I could totally see that there was not a common motivation of all the nurses that were there, you know, and some of them, one guy, I think, was just curious. He wanted to meet interesting people, so he just wanted to chat about interesting stuff. And other people were, like, really concerned about my comfort. And others were like, hey, I gotta get in and out of here with this least amount of distraction as I can. And you realize when it's like that there's not really a culture, there's. And you could see that people kind of were frustrated at one another because, like, they're not doing this for the same reason I am. So there was kind of a vacuum of common purpose. Now, I do know that somewhere in that hospital there's a sign that says, we exist to help our clients heal, our patients heal. But do people every day go, hey, remember, here's why we're here. Hey, remember. Hey, welcome to your next shift. Remember, you're going to meet people and you're going to make a big difference in their healing. And that's why we're here. And at the end. At the end of the night, do their managers go, hey, I want you to think about the three people. You made a difference in their lives today on your way home, because that's really why you're motivated to be Here. And I don't think most organizations, especially the ones that have really clear common purpose like a hospital or a school, I think that they fail to remind people and they don't realize eventually people just start filling it with their own thing. Like, I want to maximize my income, or I want to minimize the number of hours I have to work, or I want to get. Get out of here with the least amount of difficulty.

You know, it's interesting, Pat, I think that oftentimes when we do this podcast and we start with, we want to change the world of work, and we have this idealistic view of what work is and how it dignifies human beings. I feel like sometimes there are people listening to this. Like, come on, I work at a construction site. You know, like, is that really still true of this? And so, like, I say that because probably part of the reason that people experience that is because too many businesses don't have a core purpose. Like, they. I have a couple friends here in Utah who are in the construction industry, and one of them has a core purpose that has nothing to do with construction. It's all about providing opportunity for people. And they are so clear about it, and everybody gets it. And then they met another company, sort of in their space, not exactly, but in the construction industry. And they were like, oh, we very rarely meet other companies that have a core purpose. And their company's core purpose was not at all related to construction. It was all about the people they serve. And so it's so interesting because they said, we stand out in the industry simply because we've clarified what that is. And we remind our people all the time about that. And I think that's a good reminder that it doesn't have to be a hospital and you don't have to be a teacher, you don't have to be a brain surgeon to know that your company can have a core purpose.

You know, Cody, I'm reminded of this. Cause I love that because some things are like, it's obvious, but other things are not so obvious. So a friend of mine, she was putting herself through graduate school, and she was a waitress, a server in a restaurant. And her and her friend were both had a job there. And she said most of the time that when they went to the server station, they would complain. Like, oh, look at those people over there. They have a bunch of kids and they're spilling Cheerios all over the place. And look at those people. They just got here 10 minutes before the close, and they're going to be here late. And look at these people, they're, you know, all these different complaints. And her manager came up to her and ideally the company would actually make this clear to everyone there, but the manager came up to her and her friend and said, you know something, we're here because every one of these people has a story and we play a part in their story. Like that lady over there with the kids. I'm pretty sure they don't have a lot of money and this is probably the only meal that she doesn't have to cook for herself. And see those two ladies that came in kind of late and they're going to be here a little bit. I, I'm pretty sure those are sisters who haven't seen each other for years. And she says everyone has a story. And, and my friend Nancy and her friend said we started talking about everyone's stories after that. And so every day the manager, and this sounds corny maybe, but it's not great companies, the manager would welcome people and go, hey everybody, welcome to work. Remember, there's a lot of people, the stories out there, and we get to be a part in those. And at the end of the day they could probably say, hey, as you could drive home tonight, I want you to think about the two or three people you played a part in their stories. Now if that sounds corny, that's called making a job fabulous and aligning your employees and giving them a reason to care. Now most people that work in a restaurant, and I worked in restaurants had none of that. And so basically what they're saying is welcome to work, whatever your motivation is. Good on you for that. So somebody's over there maximizing their tips and other person's over there trying to stay away from the table when they need help and hoping the busboy or bus girl does it and another person is just trying to get out of work on time. And when that happens, people resent one another because they feel like we're working against each other. So this is not just an esoteric nice to have thing. It creates disunity in companies when we create this vacuum of motivation and let everybody fill it in with whatever they feel like.

So I have a question about that, Pat. Well, as you're describing that, I think, you know, I bet that there are lots of employees who actually know the difference that they're making, but they're not sure their manager knows the difference that they're making because they actually see the day to day work, but their manager is never connecting the dots. And I think, or it's even Convicting as a manager to think, I'm not sure I do this very well day to day some, because it's. After you've done it once or twice, it's hard to know how to keep that fresh and to keep reminding people about what matters. So how would you coach a manager or a leader to connect those dots, to discover what it is that somebody is doing that contributes to the core mission?

You know what I would say is, and we all fail at this. We all fail at this. But I would say, do it every day. In other words, there's a lot of different esoteric or general behavioral things I could say, but I would say this every day. Nobody quits a job because, like, oh, my manager reminded me again why my job matters. And if you're the principal of a school, there's nothing wrong with. Every time you see a teacher go, hey, I really appreciate that. I know you like, if the purpose of being a teacher is to really understand these kids and make them feel cared for and known, then every time you see them, you go, hey, I know you're doing that for your kids today. Tell me about one of the kids in your class that you made feel known today. There's no way you can do it too much. And yet we almost always err on the side of doing it just a little and assuming it doesn't need to be. And I think a lot of times we're just embarrassed. What were you going to say, Trace?

I was just going to say. So it's beyond what you just described there, Pat, is beyond a simple reminder. You described actually building it into how you manage them.

Yes.

So actually connecting their behaviors to the actual core purpose. So it goes beyond just saying, hey, remember this? Yeah. You're seeing them in action, actually displaying those behaviors.

You know, I accidentally did this yesterday, which is. Which is good, because I don't. I'm not saying I'm great at this, but we were sitting here in the office talking, and one of our employees, Joe, had his earphones on. He was talking to somebody on the phone. He hung up. And I just said, hey, what were you just doing? And he goes, I was talking to this woman, and we sent her this working genius thing, and she's about ready to use it. And I wanted to follow up with her and use it. And I said, I. And we all said, we love the fact that you do that, that you're constantly calling these people and reminding them and checking in with them. And it was like, I should probably do that once a day with him. And it took 30 seconds. And I'm like, well, if I want to manage people, yeah, how about a 30 second conversation about the core purpose and how they're fulfilling that that day? If that's all you did, your employees would probably be bouncing off the walls. They'd be aligned and they'd be excited to come back the next day. And yet, and I think that's why this is such an important topic. And yet even those of us who know this is important, we fail to do it on a regular basis. And what I would like to do is scare people into realizing if we're not doing it, we're letting those people fill in their motive with something else and that's going to cause problems.

Yeah, I'd love to lean even more into that to say, what else does it cost if we don't? It sounds like a nice to have. Honestly, it sounds like it might be kind of soft or like, oh, that sounds like something a consultant would say. But what actually managers do, as my day is busy and I have lots of meetings. What is the cost, Pat, if managers are not connecting the dots like this?

Well, let's use a sports analogy. And again, I like that because it's clear and people know what that means. But let's say you have a football team, right? And you have three players on the team and you're not reminding them that, hey, when we drafted you or when we brought you onto the team, it's all about contributing to our team's ability to win games. That seems so obvious, right? But you don't talk about that and you don't say, what did you do today that's going to help us win more games? What kind of sacrifice did you make? Or what are you trying to get better at? And then, and if we don't do that, because every team would say, well, of course that's implied. It's not. Three different people are going to come into to work with totally different motives. One's going to say, well, this is my contract year, so I'm really trying to maximize my statistics so I get paid more next year. Somebody else is going to say, well, I'm a rookie and I'm on a, on a rookie contract, so that's not going to matter that much. But I just want to make sure I make the team. So I got to do heroic things to stand out. So I got to look at it. I'm going to try to get in front of the coaches a lot. Regardless of it is whether it's helping the team, it's about me and somebody else is going to go, well, I'm a veteran and I'm already making a ton of money. I just kind of want to have an easier life this year because I'm getting sore as I get older. Well, all of those three motivations are totally understandable based on their life circumstances. But if their primary motivation isn't the same, they're going to get pissed off at each other on a regular basis. They're going to go, that veteran guy's not pulling his weight. That guy over there is just patting his stats. That guy over there is just trying to make a. Make the coaches notice him, that pulls teams apart. And unless the coach of the team says, hey, I realize that you guys all have different things going on in your lives and I get that. But if you sacrifice the real reason why you're here, we're not going to reward that and it's going to really frustrate you and your teammates. There's no way to over communicate that. And yet I think most teams pretty much send people out there onto the field and let people figure it out on their own.

This feels similar to how we sometimes talk about values and what happens when you accidentally give attention and affirmation to the wrong values. So if you have a core value, if you have a core motivation for yourself versus somebody else who has a core motivation for others or for the good of others, and you're not giving attention and affirming the person whose motivation is for others, who's working for the good of the company, for the organization, for the mission, you're going to lose those people. Those people who actually had the motivation that you wanted will leave. Because the person who's motivated by themselves is getting attention. They're getting permission to be able to have a misaligned motivation. And we have understanding and grace and patience. Everybody is on the journey to purifying their motives. And all of us, none of us do this perfectly. But the cost of not doing this work means you actually may lose some of your best people, you know?

And what's interesting is the opposite is also true. This happened actually this week where when you're good at casting vision and reminding people of the purpose of the organization and reminding them why their job matters in service of that purpose. We're looking for a team member. I had a friend recommend, oh, I have this perfect person for you in this area that you guys are looking for. Let me text and see if she's interested. And sent a text and she said her Reply which normally when people don't have alignment around motivation, like they're always looking for opportunity. He sent me a screenshot of her response and she said, hey, I've been here six years. My seven, my seven year mark is next month. I love what we do. I don't, I'm not interested in leaving without any idea of salary, opportunity, role, any of that. And I think when you talk about what the cost is when you don't do it, what you gain from doing this, you think like, oh, I can't possibly every day, Pat, are you serious? But when people are actually reminded every single day, this is the mission, here's what we're doing in the world, it creates sort of a resiliency among the team and the fabric in the company where you're not even, you're not in danger of losing some of your best people.

Exactly. Retention. And it's alignment, retention. It's like I get to work with other people who share that. People don't leave. People say they don't leave jobs, they leave managers. They also leave their peers because the manager isn't creating an alignment among those peers. But I want to be clear about something here. This is not just, you know, idealistic or altruistic. This is really about integrity, which means it being whole and being consistent. You could work at a company that said, hey, it's all about income. We are trying to maximize income, and that's why we're here, is to provide a place where each of us can maximize our income so we can do whatever we want. And there are companies like that and they should remind people of that every day because then you're going to get some guy or gal on the phone who's like pouring into customers and they're like giving things away because they're trying to make somebody's life better. And they can go, what are you doing? And then go, well, I really want to help this person and that person is going to drive them crazy. Now, do I want to work at that company? That's only money driven? No, but if that's what they want to be, be that way. Remind people of that, make sure their motives are aligned with their peers, and then invite the people who don't have that motive to go elsewhere.

So then, Pat, you would obviously have to build this into your hiring then. So in addition to hiring for values, you have to hire for that motivation, that connection to the, to the purpose.

Right. And you know, I, I think this is something we don't say often enough, but one of the things that you need to say to somebody, we exist for this reason. Does that sound interesting to you? And if a person is like, I'm not really interested in that. I'm kind of neutral on that. Probably not good, you know, and. And you should scare people with sincerity. You should say, hey, what? We're in the clothing business. I mean, I can imagine Nordstrom years ago saying, okay, we're in the clothing and fashion business. That's most of what we sell. First of all, we want you to love customer service. Cause that's what we do. We want you to love excellence and the way you present yourself and all that. But by the way, does this industry have any interest for you at all? And if they're like, not really. It's like, it's probably not gonna be a great place to work. And so we have to ask people, like, are you passionate about that? So it really comes down to why we do what we do, how we behave. And then if it's a team based organization, it's like, and do you fit the values of a team player? And the good news is most of the things people do in life are pretty interesting to most people. But there's sometimes you're going to go, I just don't even care about that field. Please do somebody an act of kindness and don't hire them because it's going to be frustrating for them and everybody else. All right, cool. So what we want to remind people to do is this. Ask yourself, do you know what's motivating your employees? And it's not just how you hired them, but are you reminding them a lot? Do you talk about it a lot? Are there examples of that? And do you send them home at the end of the day with that in mind? I think it's something that can totally change an organization and the lives of the people that work for you. So we have an unpaid ad today, and I think it's on you guys.

Rather than let Beau do it about celery or salad or camp. Campfire wood.

I said number two pencils randomly the other day. And that would be a great unpaid ad.

I think you did one for number two pencils, didn't you? School supplies. And in any case, it is May here in Utah, Pat there and in California. Just everywhere. It's actually May everywhere. But May in Utah is when everything turns green. You can. The golf courses are in full bloom. And so I wanted to do a unpaid, unpaid ad for Bad Birdie Golf. It's actually a friend of mine, I went to college with started a golf company. Here's the premise. All the golf wear is boring and old and pretentious. And so they wanted to disrupt the industry and create some sort of louder prints that are a little more irreverent than the traditional golf attire. And they have been on Shark Tank. They've crushed it. Now you see them in almost every pro shop imaginable. Next, right next to all the standard golf brands. My wife has shut down my Bad Birdie account because every time they come out with a new a new polo, I buy it. So it's worth people checking out. It's fun golf wear that's not very traditional and it's a friend of ours. So thought we would shout out bad birdiegolf.com and if you can't afford that.

You can go get a number two pencil.

There you go. Or a calendar that tells you what month it is in every state.

State specific calend.

Alrighty. That's great. Thanks, Cody. Thanks to all you for listening and we really appreciate it. We'll talk to you next time on at the table. God bless.