Understanding Team Member Motivations

As a CEO / Founder of a typical mid-sized startup or as a Senior VP of any large company, you might hope that when your teams are preparing for their product review meeting with you, they are debating what customers really need and what will make your product win, but in reality they are mostly obsessing over: - what you will want to hear in the product review - what touchy topic will upset you (and should therefore be avoided at all costs) - what pet project of yours to tie this proposal to - what will make you excited enough to approve the additional headcount they’ll surely request And contrary to what you think, solving this is on you, not on your teams. That is, if you really want to solve it.

Most people still misunderstand what actually motivates people. They think it’s more money, perks, or praise. But according to the research, what people really want is something else entirely: 1. Autonomy – the freedom to choose how we work 2. Mastery – the chance to improve at something meaningful 3. Purpose – the feeling that our work matters One study showed that when students were told they had to write an essay, their writing quality dropped. When they were given a choice, the writing improved. Why? Autonomy. It leads to higher quality outcomes. Another experiment found that people who were given a sense of purpose before a task (rather than just a financial incentive) persisted longer and performed better. Money can motivate in the short term. But if you want performance, creativity, and grit over the long term? Give people a reason to care, and the room to run.

The questions that changed how I build my team If there's one skill every entrepreneur must cultivate, it's reading the "unsaid." Over the years, I've developed my own little toolkit for cutting through posturing and uncovering real motivations. Three questions I now always ask when hiring or partnering: 1️⃣"What's a mistake you made at work, and what did you do next?" It's because people have a long list of their wins but rarely they share their mistakes or the biggest regret they have. 2️⃣"Who do you admire most, inside or outside your field and why?" It's because their heroes reveal their values. You can tell everything about a person's character and aspirations by who they look up to and what qualities they respect. 3️⃣"If you secretly had your way, what's the one thing you'd change about how we work?" And while this would give a peek into a new person's thought process, this is also most relevant for existing team members, because it reveals their innovative thinking without the pressure of formal feedback sessions. People are more honest when they think they're sharing a secret wish rather than giving official input. Moreover, the first question reveals if someone takes ownership or blames circumstances. The second uncovers values by looking at what they respect. The third, often answered with a spark in their eyes, exposes creative ambitions or bottled-up frustrations. These questions have repeatedly saved me from mismatches, and sometimes also surfaced hidden gems. What's your go-to question for seeing through the surface in professional relationships? #TeamBuilding #LeadershipLessons #Entrepreneurship

It was 4:36 PM at the Amazon India office when Ajay, a senior SDE, saw a ping from the new grad, Riya. “Hey Ajay, the order tracking service is failing after my refactor. Could you help me debug?” Ajay’s first instinct was that tiny sting of “my code” pride. He’d written the original order tracking service during the Prime Day rush. He’d lost weekends getting every edge case right. Now, someone was making changes. He remembered the old days at Infosys, too, how his seniors would scoff anytime a “newbie” wanted to touch legacy code. He nearly typed out: “Why were you even touching that module?!!” But he stopped himself.  Instead, he hopped on the call. Riya already looked nervous on the Zoom. Ajay didn’t scold. He asked a few clarifying questions, let her walk him through the bug, and together, they found a missing check that broke the flow for certain orders. 40 mins later, the fix was deployed and the service was restored. Before signing off, Riya said, almost whispering, “Sorry if I messed up your code. I thought it would make the new feature easier.” Ajay smiled, remembering all the times his own code was refactored at Amazon, and how hard it was not to take it personally. So he told her, “If nobody ever changed the code, Amazon would still be using scripts from 2010. Every improvement starts with a little discomfort.” Next day, they sat together, cleaned up the changes, and even improved the onboarding docs for the next developer. Later, in the team Slack, Ajay posted: “If someone is confident enough to touch your code, it’s a win. Refactoring is how we ship at scale. Don’t get too attached.” If you’re a software engineer, remember: You will always feel a bit possessive about your code. But the real impact is letting go, so others can make it even better. That’s how the best companies evolve. And how engineers grow, too.

The very best players are intrinsically motivated. How can they not be? Extrinsic motivation - such as rewards, promotions or avoiding negative consequences, rarely leads to long-term commitment or meaningful progress. To sustain success at the very top level, whether in sport, business or life, it's about maintaining a consistency of excellent habits: what you do when there's no crowd watching or the benefits aren't immediate. In football, it's the unsung hours on the training pitch, in the gym or recovering after sessions that define the ultimate performance. If you read last weeks interviews with Harry Kane, there was an insight into the motivation of an elite player. (1) The intrinsic desire for mastery (2) The curiosity and willingness to learn Harry has for several years been one of the best penalty takers in the world - a success rate around 85%. He would decide where he was going to place his penalty in the days before a game and would practice the execution in deliberate fashion in training. And until he missed the second penalty in our 2022 Quarter Final against France, everyone thought he had pretty much mastered the art. After such a huge disappointment: 'the worst I had felt in any moment' as he described it, my role, as his manager, was to support and mentor Harry. Having had some history in this situation, it may have helped give him perspective. But any coaching conversation, requires the player to go away and determine their response. When we were next together, Harry had taken action. Rather than rely on his tried and tested process, he told me he'd been studying and practicing a 'goalkeeper dependent' technique - basically waiting for the keeper to commit first before placing his shot accordingly. He was now ready to apply either of his techniques, leaving the goalkeeper with even less chance of 'second guessing'. When England were awarded a penalty against Italy in Naples in our next fixture, I've never been so certain that someone would score. What I couldn't have predicted was that he would miss just one out of the next 38 penalties he took - a success rate of 97%. An individual lesson in self mastery that anyone can learn from. The process we followed as a coaching team to shake the demons of our penalty record in major tournaments (definitely an intrinsic motivation for me given my past) is one of the topics covered in my forthcoming book Dear England: Lessons in Leadership. Out on 6th November you can pre- order it here: https://lnkd.in/eT4jnx8J and I'm pleased to reveal the cover for the first time  

𝗠𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿. Her reason? "She's too quiet. Where's the energy?" I was shocked. This came from a very senior woman executive at the bank. Someone I respected. An extrovert who thrived in the spotlight. But here's what she didn't see: My best direct report - She got her work done—consistently and well. She voiced her opinions, just not in the loud, dominating way that my boss expected. She was a great listener who actually thought before speaking. She shared new ideas with the team, just not in every single meeting. She was willing to lead, she just needed the right support and coaching. She wasn't a non-performer. She was just wired differently. And she wasn't alone. This happened twice in my career—two of my quietest team members labeled as "lacking energy" by senior leaders who couldn't see past their own style. For one of them, I had to fight hard just to clear her probation. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Leaders who only value people who look, sound, and act like them. As senior leaders, this is unacceptable. A good team isn't a room full of the same personality types competing to be heard. A great team has diversity—different strengths, different communication styles, different ways of showing up. And a great leader? They bring out the best in everyone, however they're wired. Both of those "quiet" team members went on to become top performers. One even stepped into a leadership role. All they needed was someone who saw their value instead of trying to change who they were. 𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: Your thoughtfulness isn't a weakness. 𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: If you only value people who communicate like you do, you're not building a team. You're building an echo chamber. The best teams aren't the loudest. They're the most diverse. #𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 #𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 #𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶�� #𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵

Not every connection builds you. Some quietly break you. “Build your network,” they say. What they don’t teach is the equally important skill: knowing when to create professional distance. I learned this early — and the hard way. I once shared context about office dynamics with a new colleague, thinking it would help her onboard. One of those “this stays between us” moments. It didn’t. What I meant as helpful context became circulating information. That was my first real lesson in trust. The second came later. A colleague I considered a close friend was having backchannel conversations with leadership, trying to pull one of my teams under her scope. I found out after the fact. No acknowledgment. No conversation. Just quiet maneuvering. I managed to stop it — but the damage was already done. Here’s what those experiences taught me: Anyone can be blindsided. Experience doesn’t make you immune. Ignoring your instincts just delays the cost. Being thoughtful about who you trust isn’t being guarded. It’s being responsible. Strong leaders aren’t just good at building relationships. They’re intentional about managing them. Think about it this way: You wouldn’t give everyone unrestricted access to your inbox. So why give everyone unlimited access to your time, energy, or context? Strategic distance doesn’t mean coldness. It means clarity. Here’s what that looks like in practice: ↳ Keep conversations project-focused, not personal ↳ Use the grateful redirect: “Thanks for flagging . Let’s anchor on our quarterly goals.” ↳ Create structure instead of constant availability ↳ Stay consistent and professional with everyone ↳ Share information deliberately, not reflexively The goal isn’t to burn bridges. It’s to stop building them too fast. Your time, energy, and trust are finite. Managing them well isn’t politics. It’s leadership. Not every professional relationship needs closeness to be effective. The strongest leaders know which relationships to nurture — and which to keep at a respectful distance. The hardest lessons about trust don’t come from enemies. They come from people you assumed were safe. That distinction changes how you lead. ➕ Follow Janet Kim for leadership, judgment, and career growth inside complex organizations. 📩 Level Up Weekly → janet.kim/levelup

𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐟��𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 When Steve Kerr became head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry was concerned because of his excellent relationship with former coach Mark Jackson. In particular, he was hesitant about having a new coach as: "𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑜, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 - '𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.'" Curry spoke positively about Coach Kerr's leadership style: "Y𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 [𝐾𝑒𝑟𝑟] ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒, ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒, ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒, ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ��𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡." This montage of clips highlights how Kerr speaks to Curry, and fulfils the need for competence and relatedness. According to self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), there are three basic psychological needs: 1️⃣ autonomy, 2️⃣ competence, and 3️⃣ relatedness. 1️⃣ Autonomy The need for autonomy represents an athlete’s need to decide what, how, and when he or she does it. 2️⃣ Competence The need for competence reflects an athlete’s need to feel that he or she is effective in meeting any demands (Duda, 2013) and thus view one’s behaviour (i.e., playing sport) as being effective (Amorose, 2007). 3️⃣ Relatedness The need for relatedness includes an athlete’s need to feel cared for by significant others such as a coach or teammates (Duda, 2013) and having a secure sense of belongingness (Amorose, 2007). In this video, you can see how Coach Kerr reinforces his ability, particularly in the first clip where Kerr talks about Curry's overall influence on the game even though his shooting stats are down and highlights his strengths throughout. You can also see how much Kerr cares for Curry, and at the end of the video he says "𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢". I will the last word to Steph Curry, who reflected on his experience of playing under Kerr: "𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑚." 

Thousands of studies. Dozens of leading psychology researchers. Decades of experiments on why some people keep going when others quit… and I’ve boiled it down to the 7 biggest takeaways: 1. Action before motivation. Peter Gollwitzer’s work on implementation intentions shows that taking even the smallest step kickstarts a psychological commitment loop. Action fuels motivation more reliably than waiting to “feel ready.” 2. Make your goals specific. Locke & Latham’s Goal Setting Theory (over 1,000 studies) found that specific, challenging goals (“Run 3 times this week”) consistently lead to higher performance than vague ones (“Get fitter”). 3. Progress fuels persistence. According to the goal‐gradient hypothesis, motivation increases as we get closer to a goal. Studies in both animals and people show that small wins, like filling in progress bars or checking off steps, supercharge persistence. 4. Meaning beats willpower. Roy Baumeister found that willpower is finite, but Victor Frankl’s work on meaning and Kashdan & McKnight’s research on purpose show that a deep “why” sustains effort far beyond raw self-control. 5. Shape your environment. Wendy Wood’s research on habits shows that high self-control people don’t rely on willpower alone; they design their surroundings so the desired action is easy and temptations are out of reach. 6. Use social accountability. Harkins & Szymanski demonstrated the audience effect: people persist longer when others can see or expect their effort. More recently, Gollwitzer & Sheeran’s meta-analysis found that public commitments increase follow-through rates significantly. 7. Expect setbacks. Motivation oscillates; it’s not a flat line. Dörnyei’s process-oriented model outlines how motivation ebbs, flows, and needs recalibration. That shifting energy gives you data. And through it all, there’s one big takeaway: Stop waiting for motivation. Take action. Which one is most relevant for you?

Met someone who did data analysis at Ajax Amsterdam. They found something weird. Two players were terrible on paper: - Barely made tackles - Missed passes - Couldn't score - Almost no assists But here's the thing: Ajax kept losing without them. It drove the analysts crazy for months. Finally they figured it out: these guys were the team's communicators. The ones constantly organizing and directing play. They'd call out formations, coordinate defensive moves, and relay tactical changes in real-time. They'd shout warnings to defenders. Point teammates to open space. Keep morale high when things got rough. The stats missed everything that mattered. Makes you think about your own team, doesn't it? Your most valuable people might be the ones your metrics completely miss. Who calms everyone down when projects go sideways? Who helps the new folks figure things out? Who spots the fires before they start? None of that shows up in quarterly reviews. But take those people away... watch what happens. Sometimes the most important stuff is the hardest to measure.