Coaching to Motivate: Freddi Donner Interviews Anne Loehr

Freddi Donner is a seasoned executive coach who invited me discuss how coaching can impact motivation. She founded Business Stamina in 2004 after more than two decades as a corporate marketing executive and successful entrepreneur. She is certified by the International Coaching Federation.

In this interview, we discuss The Success Equation, the basics of coaching yourself and others, and how coaching can help with motivation. We also open the floor to specific questions from those participating in the call. You may enjoy the entirety of the interview below, or use the summary provided to skip ahead to the topics that most interest you.

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1:43 Overview of questions from listeners on the topic of motivation

• How do I get motivated to do tasks that I don’t enjoy?
• Can you speak about maintaining the motivation for transitioning into a new career?
• How can I stay motivated to be organized when I work alone?
• How do I keep up motivation when I feel drained?

4: 27 The Success Equation

The Success Equation is introduced in my book, “The Manger’s Guide to Coaching.” I created it from studying the classics such as Ken Blanchard, Franklin Covey and Peter Drucker.

The Success Equation is:  A+A+A=Success

Let me break it down.

Aptitude: The skills and confidence to do the job or task.

Attitude: The motivation and drive needed to do the job or task.

Available Resources: The tangible things needed to do the job or task. The aptitude, attitude and available resources are equally weighted in terms of likelihood for success. For example, let’s say you’ve been asked to build a website for a potential client. If you know how to build a website (aptitude), and you love the challenge of doing so (attitude), but your computer is from 1991 (available resources), your chances of success are roughly 66%. This equation works for any adult learning any new thing.

6:20 An example of applying The Success Equation

Think about learning to ride your very first bicycle and apply The Success Equation. What was the likelihood of your success? This equation is a great diagnostic tool to apply as a manager before sending an employee to the wolves. If they don’t quite have the aptitude, provide them with the training they need to succeed. If they don’t have the resources they need, provide those resources as budget allows. If it’s their attitude that is lacking, it’s time to start coaching.

 10:29 Looking to The Success Equation for “getting more organized”

Let’s assume you have both the resources and the aptitude to get organized. According to The Success Equation, what’s stopping you? It’s the attitude. In this case, you can use coaching principles to coach yourself. Coaching is about asking the kind of questions that lead to the root of the problem. For example, with the right questions, maybe you will realize that you really aren’t into the project that you are organizing around, or you aren’t into the client that you are organizing around—and that is the reason for your lack of motivation (attitude).

12:45 The three most important coaching tips

1. Keep questions short. As a rule of thumb, your questions should be six words or less. Don’t complicate the issue. The shorter the question is, the more impactful it will be for yourself or the person you are working with, whether it be someone in your family, a colleague, or someone in your community. Here are some examples:
* What’s the impact of that?
* What do you really want?
* What’s the underlying issue?
* What’s getting in your way?
2. Keep your conversation advice free. Sometimes people don’t want advice; they want you to help them think. Go into a coaching scenario with no agenda.
3. Use open questions. These are questions that start with “what” or “how.” They do not lead to yes or no answers. Using open questions creates a dialogue that helps both you and the coachee do the best thinking possible.

17:40 How to remain motivated on a health regime

Research shows that people do not like to lose. They don’t like to lose jobs, lose money, or lose relationships. When it comes to health we typically frame things as “losing pounds,” or “losing inches,” or “losing flabbiness.” Our brains are not wired that way. The solution is to flip the dialogue around. The real question is not “why do you want to lose weight,” but rather, “what will you gain out of this?” A possible reply to this re-framed question might be, “I want more energy to play with my grandchildren.” The goal is to identify the motivation by shifting to what it is you will gain with your health regimen, and how you will be different because of it. In this scenario and all others, accountability is key. If a person is motivated, has the resources, and has the aptitude—there often still is a behavioral issue. How do you build accountability into this process? Find an accountability partner. Find a friend, family member or coach and ask them to check in on you and your goals once a week with an email or a phone call. This will help you stay focused on goals.

 22:05 How to keep questions short and advice-free in a career environment

In a career environment, focus on awareness and action. Create awareness of what is really going on and identify the action that you, or your colleague, are going to take. Too much awareness and not enough action is singing kumbayah or passing an orange around a circle with your neck. Too much action without awareness is going down the same rabbit hole again and again.

27:53 The problem isn’t actually motivation, it’s follow through

We all have the best intentions, but we need to be held accountable. People cannot be accountable by themselves. Some habits have been going on for 30 years! Find an accountability partner for yourself, and be the managerial version of an accountability partner for your employees.

28:41 List of resources

Books I have written on the topic are: The Manger’s Guide to Coaching Managing the Unmanageable For handouts on coaching, please email me. Also, take a look at Freddi Donner’s website, Business Stamina for more resources.

29:18  Question from participant: How do we tackle motivation while working alone, and deal with the conundrum of wanting more clients, but fearing the actual acquisition of more clients?

Take a look at The Success Equation. Focus on motivation first, but keep all three A’s in mind.  Talk to someone and ask the big questions. What is my purpose here? Is my purpose to make money? Is my purpose to change lives? Am I doing this so I can change my career? Get very clear about your personal mission statement. Once purpose is established, look to the resources and aptitude needed for now, and six months from now, and create an action plan.

When I am losing motivation and feel like I can’t face another day of work, I look to my purpose statement which is, I am the eagle that inspires others to soar beyond their horizons.

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Have you been coached at work, or have you made it a practice to coach yourself? I’d love to hear what questions you find to be the most impactful. Of course, horror stories are always fun too, so feel free to share the worst coaching question you’ve ever been asked. Please leave a comment below, send me an  email or find me on Twitter.