Motivation: Now.

Over the last few weeks I have had the opportunity at my warehouse job to shadow the Operations Manager for our location. His name is Cody Smith and he is an incredibly intelligent and personable leader. We have spent a lot of time talking about leadership and he shared with me some valuable information that was a "Hidden Room" in my knowledge of leadership. Different in his words, the idea is this: What's the Motivation NOW?

Recently, I have been trying to hire a social media manager for this blog and haven't had much luck. Knowing that a good chunk of his work day consists of finding and hiring new employees, I thought he might have some information that could be helpful in my process.

He mentioned the struggle they were having and gave an example of another company in town, similar to work in what we are hiring for, offering $22.50 starting wages. He explained how he knew that we couldn't match that and the difficulty in it is that pay is the big motivation right now. I thought about it for a second. Yea, pay is a big motivator, but isn't that always a concern when someone is searching for a job?

As I said earlier, Cody is an incredibly intelligent leader, and it's been clear to me just in talking to him over the last few weeks that he is a strong leader of change. Not only is he open to change, he is always seeking it out. That's because if you aren't changing, you're getting stuck in the past. The truth is that as time goes, culture changes, people change, attitudes change, interests change, and motivations change. What motivated yesterday could be of no interest today and what motivates today may not be a huge concern tomorrow.

A spark doesn't burn long, but if it lands in the right spot at the right time, you've got a fire. Motivation is the same way. The motivation now won't last long, but if you use it well at the right time, energy will come to life.

The motivation right now is money. Soaring gas prices, economic recession, record breaking inflation, etc. It's no wonder money is a huge concern right now. Just two years ago it was health and sick time with COVID being a major concern. Ten months from now it could be flexibility and 6 months from then it could be amount of hours. (And just to be clear, this isn't true for everyone. Every person is motivated differently, but the changing world can often lead to changing motivations within a person.)

So, while this is great information for hiring people, how does it apply to an organization that isn't hiring? Well - What motivated yesterday could be of no interest today and what motivates today may not be a huge concern tomorrow. If you're still motivating your team with the same incentives that you were using 10 years ago and finding that your team is unenthused and lacking energy, you might consider making a change to your tactics of motivation.

The world is constantly changing, people are constantly changing, and motivations are constantly changing. Looking to bring the energy back to life in your team? The question you should be asking is this: What's the motivation NOW?