My Perspective on Leadership and Motivation

Motivation and reward are topics near and dear to my heart. I am an older Grad student, earlier this year turning 45 years old. I have been motivating in the work place, military and civilian sector since I was in ROTC as an undergrad at Notre Dame 20 years ago. I remember when I attended Army Advanced Camp, an 8 week summer training in Fort Lewis, Washington, I witnessed perhaps the greatest motivational moment of my life. Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman was the Officer in charge of a training course which included the rappel tower and obstacle course. LTC Grossman was already a noted Psychologist, Author, Historian, Army Ranger, and of course Warrior. He walked out of a cloud of smoke to the sound of gunfire and blew all of us Cadets away with the Saint Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry the 5th. That day inspired me, and really made me love the theatrics he brought to motivation. I am still quite theatrical to this day when I motivate people because of LTC Grossman’s inspiration. LTC Grossman engaged us that day, he made our difficult tasks fun, and inspired us to achieve things many thought unachievable. That is what leaders do, inspire and motivate. 

Do we all have to recite Shakespeare in order to inspire our people? I don’t think so. But there are many ways to do it. You motivate by being the example to others through your actions. LTC Grossman was an inspiration on that day to me and many others. He had a lasting impact on me throughout my life. It’s amazing how something so little yet meaningful can shape the way you think and act for years to come. As I said before I used the theatrical flair that LTC Grossman displayed on many occasions to inspire my own soldiers in training and on the battlefield. I never recited Shakespeare but utilized impassioned speech about brotherhood and camaraderie to inspire behavior in my men. I am happy to say that those men far exceeded any expectation I had set for them and displayed courage, leadership, and sacrifice I could only hope to achieve. 

Leadership and motivation isn’t for only those proficient in Shakespeare or those getting ready to cross the line of departure on a combat mission. It’s for the everyday leader that is trying to find a way to achieve the goals of his or her organization. Trying to motivate a production team of people to cut plastic parts is in some ways more difficult than motivating a squad of Infantry Rifleman to clear a building. Giving the higher purpose to the production team cutting plastic parts can be difficult. What’s in it for me? Why are we doing this? Who cares? These are the responses you might get when trying to motivate the production team to work harder, faster, and with better quality. At the same time the Infantry Squad operates with a higher purpose already. It is intrinsic to their existence. The motivation can be geared around the ideas of patriotism or brotherhood. They are taking part in something bigger than themselves.

In the case of the production team the leader has to be a bit more skillful in their messaging. What is in it for me? The answer to that question could be the pride you and your fellow employees feel in doing quality work and having a low defect rate.  Why are we doing this? The answer might be that we are supporting an industry that provides for our community. By doing a great job and delivering on time we help support families in our own community. Who cares they might ask? Your peers care and want to know that they are not the only ones putting in maximum effort. Creating messaging that provides task and purpose to your employees is critical to ensuring they understand, receive, and internalize your leadership message. 

So leadership and motivation are of course not one in the same. What LTC Grossman did that day did not lead us to the end of the obstacle course or off the edge of the rappel tower. His inspiring words did not lead us to victory on the battlefield. But it did provide for us a model of what an inspirational leader looks like, acts like, says, and does. It planted that image for me to draw upon when exhausted in the dark in Iraq on a cross country convoy spanning 20 kilometers on Route Mobile, where I had to keep it together, communicate, problem solve, and keep the men on their toes for 23 hours without sleep. It did motivate and inspire on that day in Fort Lewis. So much so, I am sure we all would have gone to war at that moment. 

I mentioned a moment ago, task and purpose.  It is a fundamental part of military leadership. Providing task and purpose. That’s really all you need to get anything done when you have a trained team. My Battalion Commander spoke of this often in Iraq. LTC Leopoldo Quintas (now LTG) would say give me the task and purpose. What are we doing and why? If you provide your trained people the task and purpose and the authority to get the job done, they will achieve great things. Too often in the civilian sector we don’t give the task and purpose. We just send our team members to cut the plastic or bang the wicket and that’s it. Then after months and months of banging on the wicket and doing a great job of it they get bored. They slow down, start taking longer breaks, efficiency lags, and the company starts to see KPI’s go into the toilet. I believe task and purpose can be a great motivator. Tell your team what they are doing and why. If what you produce is not the final product, talk to your customer and bring in their final product, and do some show and tell with your team. In our case the final product might be a $200,000 dollar boat. When our employees see what our product becomes part of in person, the task and purpose takes on new meaning. 

When I started out as a 2LT in the Army National Guard I was told I would spend all of my drill pay on my soldiers. The NCO that told me that wasn’t lying. One drill I spent somewhere near $500 on Gatorade and ice after a 20 mile road march. One of the things that did was inspire confidence in the soldiers. They saw that I was digging into my own pocket to take care of them. In terms of motivating civilian employees I don’t think they are much different. As you develop relationships with your employees dip into your own pocket for them once and a while for a couple sodas, candy bars, or a pizza lunch for a cell that is doing really great work. They will see that you care enough to sacrifice for them and that will build their trust in you. You will be paid back in the long run trust me. 

So don’t be afraid as a leader to inspire your people. In fact go out on a limb and try it. Whether it is the Saint Crispin’s Day speech or the William Wallace Speech from Braveheart. Do something bold to inspire your team and they will remember you. They will remember the things you did for them and the things you do for them. They will gain trust in you and follow you. Most of all they will believe in you.