Antarctica.
Dark. Endless ice. Cold as a witch’s… Well, very cold.
Going there isn’t on too many people’s bucket list. Pretty sure there are no Sandals resorts in Antarctica (just for penguins, maybe).
And yet, in 1913, Sir Ernest Shackleton had 5000 (!) people apply to be part of his expedition to navigate the South Pole. They signed up in droves. He had to turn people away, because he only had funding to carry out the expedition with 27 men. They literally fought to be one of the crew he chose. One guy even stowed away!
And it’s not as if he made the job sound very appealing. Supposedly (it’s a matter of some historical controversy), his job ad went something like this:
“Men wanted for expedition to South Pole. Low wages, bitter cold, long months of darkness, constant danger. But possible honor and recognition.”
Really. That’s paraphrasing somewhat, but it’s pretty close. And what’s not in dispute is that 5000 people applied to be part of his expedition. 5000!!!
Sir Shackleton wasn’t moping around, telling his colleagues, “You just can’t find good people anymore.” He was buried with qualified applicants.
Note, too, that he WAS NOT talking about 401K plans and health benefits and on-site gyms or working from home. If anything, his ad would appear to be the opposite of what you’d say if you wanted people to come work for you:
“Come work with me! We’ll barely pay you, and you’ll probably die! It’s awesome!”
Why would anyone do that?
Because he wasn’t talking about a “job.” He was talking about a purpose. A MISSION. And you know what? Human beings LOVE missions. Human beings love being part of something larger than themselves. Whatever else they may say about wanting endless vacation time, however much they may complain about working hard…most people love the idea of doing something that MATTERS.
Does working for you matter?
If it doesn’t, even to you, you have a problem. You are living in an existential void, with no purpose beyond the making of money, and you therefore cannot expect your staff to be motivated by anything other than their paycheck. If your purpose is just about you making more money for YOU, then you can stop reading now. This blog post doesn’t apply to you.
But if working for you DOES matter, if you are legitimately serving a purpose larger than yourself, then you better figure out how to communicate that, and let it be known to your people. My bet – your staff probably don’t even realize how much what they do matters, even if it’s clear to you. And that, for sure, is a problem.
“Employee engagement.” This is the BIG ISSUE in corporate America today – how do we increase employee engagement?
I would venture to say, Ernest Shackleton wasn’t too concerned with whether his employees were sufficiently engaged. He wasn’t too worried about whether anyone was signing up to work with him just to get a paycheck.
“Paycheck? What paycheck? Watch out for that (GIANT BLOCK OF ICE!)…(FREEZING COLD OCEAN!)…(MARAUDING WALRUS!)…(insert completely unforeseen, TERRIFYING DANGER HERE!)”
You need to be more like Shackleton.
You need to start communicating about your MISSION, about WHY you’re doing what you’re doing. If you truly are motivated by something larger than just yourself, you need to learn how to TALK ABOUT YOUR MISSION.
That’s the best, most effective way to increase staff engagement and motivation, hands down. Really, it’s the only way. And it’s for sure the only way you’re going to attract new recruits that are motivated by more than just how much money they’re going to make working for you.
If you want to learn how to do this, come to our webinar, hosted by veteran management consultant (and professional screenwriter) Steven List:
If you’ve ever thought you could become a better leader, if you ever wanted to be better at motivating your people, you need to come to this. It’s free. But what you’ll learn is priceless.
Want staff that would follow you to Antarctica (or who are at least committed to taking your practice to the next level and helping more people)? Then attend:
If nothing else, it’ll help you recruit some pretty motivated penguins.
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