Lasting Until Land

Lately, I’ve been writing and thinking (sometimes in that order) about what it takes to sustain really hard efforts over a long period of time. In recent newsletters , I’ve written about the structural challenges, and how you can approach them in your own enterprise. But, the bigger piece of the puzzle is keeping people energized, passionate, motivated, and productive. And that’s where organizations often fall down.

Despite so much discussion about quiet quitting , and the rising investments in workplace mental health , the level of employee engagement has not really budged. It remains quite low. I think there was some hope that by employers succumbing to the demand for remote work, employees would be happier and more engaged. They may be happier. They are not more engaged.

In fact, the least engaged employees are those who are remote or hybrid . Strange, huh?

All of that is background information that you need to be aware of if you were planning on achieving a long-term hard initiative. And since most of my clients are high growth start ups, they are all trying to do that. The question is, how do you create either a structure or culture or a selection process? That finds employees who can stay the course?

Intrinsic Motivation

The typical scenario, when we try to motivate employees is to look to what the organization itself can provide in the way of material incentives or sweeteners. We have hiring bonuses. We do commissions and overrides. We try to make the environment, enticing, and fun. We give unlimited paid time off and so much more. But none of these address the most critical issue for sustaining employee engagement. Intrinsic motivation .

Intrinsic motivation is the experience of wanting to do what we’re doing, because it is either inherently, interesting, or because it is connected to a purpose that calls to us . That may be an altruistic purpose, or it may be a purpose that simply candles are curiosity and interest. But, you may be asking yourself, as I did when I read a lot of this research, how can you kindle somebody else’s intrinsic personality. Isn’t that just a crapshoot? After all, we all have our own interests and the things that drive us to pursue learning something or completing a task.

I will work I will work to the point where I can barely see for the sweat in my eyes to prepare a raised garden bed for vegetables. Most people would not find that a very intrinsically motivating activity. I do, because I feel a connection to the ultimate outcome, harvesting my own lettuce head for dinner. So, in that way, it seems very random.

Do you have to establish intrinsic motivation from the very moment that you consider hiring somebody? Maybe. But, given that you’ve already hired people who you believe are highly talented, maybe it would be better to figure out how you could stoke their existing intrinsic motivation.

Pieces of the Puzzle

We do know something about the psychology of intrinsic motivation. And we have some sense of what the specific qualities are that enhance it. They’re pretty basic.

• Connection to a Purpose
• Autonomy
• Curiosity and the Opportunity to Satisfy It
• Connection to Others or a Mission (or both)

Of course, there are also just different levels of discipline. Some people are very good at sustaining effort over a long time with very little positive feedback. Others need regular pats on the back and acknowledgment. Part of your job as a leader is to know who needs what in your team

Connection to Purpose

As a leader, what are the available means to provide your team with purpose? You have a few of options there. Most of them are things you’re probably already doing. For example, if you do strategic planning, and you have a mission and vision, make sure your whole team knows it. Not just knows it as a rote exercise, but knows it as a meaningful purposeful credo. Fundamentally, isn’t everybody in your organization working toward that mission?

Beyond the mission and vision, you have the actual strategy. The theory that you are operating your entire business based on, and which you are consistently iterating upon after collecting experimental data. Right? Your whole team needs to know that too. They need to understand the logical underpinning of what they’re doing. This is especially true if they’re working on a long, hard initiative with very little positive feedback. And by positive feedback, I mean, the thing is done or close to done.

When the strategy is crystal, clear, then those who are working on that hard problem can see logic and rationale to their stamina and discipline.

Autonomous Teams

Autonomy is critical, or at least a sense of autonomy. Clearly, you do not have employees who are just doing whatever they want all the time without any connection to the organization. The strategy is guiding them, and you have metrics, managers, and ways of marking progress.

Jeff Bezos empowered Amazon’s culture of experimentation by pairing small autonomous teams on big visions, while larger groups executed the core business predictably. Besos knew that he had to keep revenue steady and rising while he was committed that they worked on hard things. The whole effort was always guided by long-term strategy, but most of the organization was operating with a pragmatic North Star.

However, he did, and does use autonomous teams to work on the hardest problems to achieve the most federal parts of the vision. That is the secret behind the giant e-commerce company that manages to create, cultivate and socialize things like like Kindle and AWS while Amazon's core retail operation financed their incubation. But the intrinsic motivation, for those teams came from the long-term strategy and their understanding of the role within it. That, coupled to the autonomy they had to attack the problem, is magical.

Structure, Stamina and Moonshots

Fundamentally, there are a lot of moving parts to running an organization that does both thrive economically in the short term and create unprecedented or unlikely breakthroughs for the long term. And it’s important not to neglect any part of the formula. All of the structural pieces need to be in place. A balance between pragmatism and Vision. A clear structure for continuing to keep the fly wheel turning over so that Business can finance the moon shot.

But at the same time, as a leader, you have to attend to the needs of those teams that you are sending out on long and often seemingly fruitless expeditions. Very much like the explorers of the 15th century, they are sailing into the unknown without regular positive feedback in the form of things working —or, if they were Vespucci, land in sight. They have to know that that destination is worthy.

If you lead a technical team, then you have likely neglected yourself and your own development as a leader. You deserve coaching, leadership development, training in strategic thinking, negotiation and more. That’s what the Leaders Lab mastermind program will give you. Learn more or set up a call with me.