To find out what makes an employee tick, take them to dinner and don't talk business at all. Ask about their life, and only at the very end ask about their goals for the year.
Where it appears 1
Connections
Related
- Get to know someone before you motivate them
Generic motivation can backfire badly, because what fires up one person breaks another. To find someone's authentic self and motivate them, you first have to know their story.
More practices from this episode
- Write down what you want
Colin's first step toward authenticity for someone with no support around them. Take pen and paper and write down what you want in life and what would make you happy, even something as…
- To-stop-doing list
Keep a good-and-bad list. On one side list the things to work on, such as procrastinating or leaving friends' texts unanswered for weeks, which Colin calls disrespectful. On the other, a…
- List what you won't compromise on
Write down, or just think through, the things you care about and won't compromise on. Being secure in them, such as playing your own album and offering theirs next time, is what makes you…
- Ask 'What's in it for you?'
In interviews Colin told candidates exactly what he was after, then asked what they were after, to judge whether they were too ambitious or not ambitious enough. Asking yourself the same…
- Say 'I don't know'
When you don't know something, such as who Alan Watts is, say so instead of pretending. Colin calls 'I don't know' the three most important words he ever learned.
- Talk to yourself
Reason with yourself out loud or in your head: 'Is that a good thing for you, Colin? Is that guy really a friend?' Colin uses it to check his choices and spot toxic relationships.