When working with Sales Leaders, as well as non sales leaders, I often ask them what one of their key responsibilities are. What is fascinating is that many leaders respond with the belief that a core function of their role is to motivate their team. They see it as their responsibility to ensure that their team are energised & filled with excitement,  so they look for opportunities to motivate them. How? Often through providing a carrot, such as a bonus, an incentive trip, or simply an opportunity to be recognised as a top performer on the ‘league ladder’. All extrinsic motivators, and unfortunately, mostly ineffective in driving sustainable and high levels of performance.

For a number of years, I was also one of those sales leaders who believed it important to motivate and incentivise the team to drive outstanding results. The unfortunate reality though was that the performance was rarely sustained over a long period of time. And when I began working with an executive coach, they helped me understand how exceptional performance is actually driven through intrinsic motivation. In fact, my coach said to me 6 very powerful words which changed everything – ‘Stop Trying To Motivate Your Team’.