Be the Bank Robber!

In one of the trainings that I do, there is a discussion around intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation: can you really motivate someone else or does that motivation come from within? I think it’s a great debate!

On the one hand, you may have experienced a fiery coach who got you really pumped up for the big game. On the other hand, you know there are times where you just simply want to do a great job, even knowing only you will notice it. Extrinsic vs. intrinsic?

Some argue that all motivation is really only intrinsic. If you don’t have it within you, there is nothing anyone else can do to get you motivated. In some ways, this makes a lot of sense. I know there have been times in my life where someone was wanting me to get fired up about doing something and I just simply didn't care. Nothing they could say or do to me affected how I approached it. A lot of the times when that took place, it was because I didn't trust or respect the person doing the “motivating.”

I remember my high school football season my Senior year; our coach selected 2 or 3 Seniors to be captains each game. For one particular game, I was one of those captains. When he talked with us before the coin flip, I could smell a significant amount of alcohol on his breath. From that day on, I had very little respect for that coach. Nothing he would say could get me excited. (We won only 1 game that year.)

Prior to that year, my brother was my football coach. He was not a yeller or screamer, he just taught us fundamentals and worked us until we knew the plays inside and out. We had a ton of confidence. In the pregame pep talk, he didn't get us all hyped up…he would simply challenge us to accomplish some goal that game. I remember one game where he just said, “We haven’t blocked a punt yet this year. Let’s do that tonight.” First punt of the game, I blocked the punt! (We only lost 1 game that year…and I’m still mad about that!) Even 40 years later, some of the guys on that team tell me how much they appreciated how he coached them.

In both cases, you can argue that for me, the motivation was simply intrinsic; I either had it or I didn't. You and I both know there seem to be some people that nothing we do gets them to work harder or longer or faster. They seem to simply exist.

However, a bank robber gives us the perfect setting for looking at motivation a bit differently than perhaps is normal. (Full disclosure, I am not a bank robber and I got this story from Mark Sanborn.)

When a bank robber comes into a bank with a gun to rob it, has he extrinsically motivated the bank teller to give him the money? Or does she have to be intrinsically motivated to give him the money?

In reality, there is a little of both going on. The best way to describe it is that the bank robber provided the environment for the teller to be easily motivated to do what he wants. Did she want to give him the money? Not at all. So intrinsically, her motivation was poor. However, his extrinsic motivation had an effect on her.

What does this all mean for how you motivate your team? Please know that I’m NOT suggesting you hold a gun to their heads! (Although some people, unfortunately, do that metaphorically.) What I AM saying is that you can (and should) create an environment for your team that makes it easy to be motivated.

My football examples above showed how effective that was. The first coach I described set up an environment of little respect. No matter how much he tried to motivate us with words, because he wasn't respected, we didn't perform. Even though we wanted to win, we were just missing that spark.

On the other hand, my brother instilled confidence in us by teaching us skills and designs and rehearsing it constantly so that when we got in a game, it was as if it was happening in slow motion. It was so easy to react to situations. The environment he created for us made us work together and have a ton of fun doing it.

What can you do to create an environment that makes it easy for your team to succeed? Certainly recognizing good work with more than just a, “Good job” is helpful. Listening to ideas from your team and actually trying out many of them builds confidence and a sense of belonging. Admitting when you make a mistake shows them that mistakes will be made and it isn't “life threatening.” Making sure they know how what they are doing relates to what the bigger picture is and why what they are doing is important is a key ingredient.

All of these things help create that amazing environment where it is very easy to be motivated. Doing these little things mean that you won’t have to spend a lot of time trying to inspire them with speeches and bonuses and other typical motivation techniques that really have very limited value.

Be the bank robber!