When an Employee Asks for Motivation

The other day I had an employee tell me that he needed me to motivate him. As I stared, dumbfounded, and started to address his concern, it reminded me of some critical characteristics that I look for in employees.

Are they passionate about what they’re doing? People who have passion will be motivated to succeed simply because they love what they’re doing.

How do they handle adversity or criticism? Nobody’s perfect. At one point or another, everybody faces adversity or criticism. I’m always curious to see how people react to that. A motivated person will take the criticism, learn from it, and become better as a result. An unmotivated employee will sulk and pout about it and let it get in the way of accomplishing goals.

Do they need an incentive such as a bonus to be motivated? I’ve worked with people who do not lag, but do not excel either, until a bonus is offered. Once they know there is a bonus to be earned, they turn into completely different people and achieve miraculous accomplishments.

I want employees who share these characteristics. In basketball, coaches often say that great shooters keep shooting and always believe the next shot is going in, regardless of how many consecutive shots they’ve missed. I look for employees with enough motivation to keep trying, no matter how many prospects or sales leads have told them "no." Such employees never give up and remain optimistic that the next call is going to be the big sale.

This article was written by Brad Walters and published in Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.