Motivation without Support is Just Pressure
I recently learned of a local, small healthcare group that has been trying for years to increase their number of patients. The leader was doing what many leaders in these circumstances do.
He used a motivational speech about the goal in every team meeting.
He told the team this goal was needed for the company to be profitable.
He made stretch goals for individuals.
He eventually said, “If we make it, I’ll give each of you a $500 bonus.”
He also said, “If we don’t make it, I’ll have to make cuts to our staff.”
When questions from the team came up, his famous answer was, “Just figure it out. It’s not that hard.”
He thought he was being generous, encouraging his team to grow, and teaching them how to be tough enough to succeed.
He also had the highest employee turnover rate I’ve ever seen. The most resilient and ambitious employees ducked out after a year and a half. Others never saw the 6-month mark.
As each person left, the leader said he felt used and the remaining employees felt burnt out and disenchanted.
The problem wasn’t that this leader expected too much. The problem was that he expected motivation to make up for everything else. He was over-relying on motivation because it was the strength he knew how to use.
The motivation to perform was high in this organization. The support to do so was incredibly low.
And motivation without anywhere to go simply turns into pressure, anxiety, and shame.
Few things will drain a team or individual’s performance faster than pressure, anxiety, and shame.
Motivation wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that motivation was being asked to do the job of skills, resources, and support.
My Champion framework has three parts: cheer for people, hold them accountable, and give them the skills and resources to succeed.
This leader was doing two of those things. He was cheering. He was holding people accountable. But when people needed help, his answer was, “Just figure it out.”
That’s a big gap in someone’s ability to perform.
The problem is that this approach works sometimes, so we reinforce it.
We carry more because carrying more has worked before. We push harder because pushing harder has worked before. We keep solving everything ourselves because, at least sometimes, it gets results.
But sustainable performance requires more than one way of achieving.
If you want sustainable performance, don’t glorify carrying more, pushing harder, and solving every problem. While this approach can produce short-term wins, it often leads to inconsistent performance, reduced innovation, and cultures that depend on a few exhausted heroes.
Instead, look for more ways to succeed. Look for a wider range of skills, resources, and strategies because there are always more ways to get results and you can find ones that don’t require depletion and exhaustion.
Sustainable high performance isn’t about squeezing more out of the strengths you already have. It’s about developing enough range that you have more ways to perform well.
Thanks for reading with me today. If you’d like to learn more ways to succeed—in your own life or across your organization—here are three ways I can help:
🎤 Keynotes — Inspire your people to rethink what high performance can look like.
🛠️ Workshops — Build practical skills for expanding your performance range.
🤝 Coaching — Get personalized support to turn Even-Achieving into practice.
The goal isn’t to push harder. It’s to broaden your ways to succeed.
