Coaching Conversations in 2025
Coaching Conversations with Tim Hagen, where we teach leaders and managers how to coach their employees. This is the ideal podcast for leaders, managers, and aspiring leaders to improve their coaching and leadership skills to create a more positive coaching culture within their teams.
In 2025, we're doing weekly podcasts on various coaching topics and strategies that will rotate throughout the month, as opposed to 2024 where the weekly episodes featured a monthly theme. Coaching Conversations will continue to have four episodes per month and we're going to sprinkle in masterclasses, which will be lengthier, workshop-style formats.
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Coaching Conversations in 2025
Discovering Desire: Crafting Questions to Uncover Workplace Motivations
What if you could unlock the secret to understanding what truly motivates people and apply this knowledge effectively in workplace scenarios? Welcome to our latest podcast episode, where we unravel this fascinating topic and share experiences from our work with a financial institution. We discuss the critical importance of asking the right questions that help individuals identify their own desires and motivations. We also delve into the dichotomy of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, laying out strategies to identify and leverage both for improved communication and productivity.
We narrate an intriguing story about a graphic designer whose true motivations were misunderstood by her company, illustrating the significance of aligning individual motivators with organizational intentions. This is a compelling demonstration of the fundamental principle that motivates people: their desired state, or their "end game." We also explain how to craft questions that reveal this desired state and how people view their current roles. Join us as we dissect the dynamics of motivation, equipping you with the tools to understand your own and others' motivators, thereby enhancing your ability to communicate effectively. Let's embark on this exploration of motivation in the workplace. You wouldn't want to miss out on these insights!
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As I stated in the prior episode, we really create a framework around understanding people's motivator. Don't try to motivate until you first understand what motivates. So it begs the question how do you find out someone's motivator? First of all, questions are critical, and I remember we were working with a financial institution right near the end of the pandemic if you will, in 2022. And I remember about 55% of the people in their emerging leader program had dropped out and someone said geez, what's wrong with the program? What's wrong with the program? I said I don't think there's anything wrong with the program. They probably saw what management's going through and their motivations changed. See the whift. What's in it for them is what people want, their desired state. So think about crafting questions such as what's your end game? What do you want to be doing? What would you love to be doing? You know 16 months from now that maybe you're not doing at all or not enough of right now. What are two things that you'd like to be doing more of that maybe you're not doing enough of right now, this thing that you dislike about your current job. See, there's two types of motivation there's intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic is I see what I'm currently doing as an apparatus for something. Next, it could be a promotion. It could also not be a promotion. Again, if you want to read a great book, read Julie Winkle Giuliani's book Promotions Are so Yesterday. She identifies seven specific reasons why people are motivated outside of just getting promoted. People who are intrinsically motivated are motivated by what they're currently doing, and I love sharing this story.
Speaker 1:I have a friend and she's a graphic designer. Now it's really funny when you think about graphic design, you think about fun and design. And she works for an agency and you get to work with clients. She's actually an introvert, she's actually very quiet and the company kind of sense something in her. And she called me and she said I got to find a new job. And I said, right, you want to promote me to a people manager? I said, oh, and she goes, I don't want to do it. I just that's not what motivates me. I said wait a minute. Wait a minute, don't leave the company. What a wonderful gesture. Albeit, their intentions are out of alignment with what you want. You have the opportunity to tell them.
Speaker 1:And so we crafted some language pieces, went back and then her friend got the promotion who, by the way, was not as talented as a graphic designer. But then I gave her some conversation techniques about how they can move forward together positively and the funny thing was the company was well intentioned but they didn't understand what motivated her. Her motivation was and I asked her. I said what really turns you on every day of what you do? She said I love to design from scratch. I love to get a concept from a client and go from A to Z, and I don't like to work with other people, I like to work on my own. I use all these tools and her whole active change, her percentage of energy went up. She was like a different person and I looked at her and I go managing people. What's your first thought? She goes ugh.
Speaker 1:So here's the funny thing we have to ask questions. One sequence I always encourage you to ask, especially for the current state, bob, currently based on your job today what do you love? What do you like? What do you dislike Futuristically, what would you like to be doing that if you weren't doing what you're doing now? What would you love about that? What would you like? What would you dislike? And I start to get a sense if they're intrinsic or extrinsically motivated. And yes, people can change. Someone can be intrinsic and then become extrinsic. That's why the dialogue around motivation is so key. That's why questions are so critical.