Episode 240

8/28/25

Topic: Return on Motivation (Just When You Thought You Had Enough MBA Buzzwords)

Guests: Dan Gordon & Donnie Shelton

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In this episode we discuss:

• Our sponsors Coalmarch by Workwave, PestSure & Voice for Pest

• PMP Industry Insiders Peer Groups

• What Return on Motivation is and why it's so important, even though it's hard to quantify

• The idea between a compliant team vs. a committed team

• Why Donnie says motivation is like training — it's hard to measure, but it improves your other numbers

• The role communicating employee performance plays

• Dan's perspective on how to get started: Identify the costs and measure the benefits

• How the six components of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), often referred to as "Traction" apply

• Author Jack Stack's "line of sight" concept, which means that employees can connect their tasks with the company's success

• Why owners may not be great at giving recognition and how to overcome it

• The challenge of letting go and giving your team autonomy

• Why it's important to invest in your team's professional development, even if they might leave

• Whether author Jim Collins is right when he says the right people don't need to be motivated

  
  

Resources mentioned:

• PMP Industry Insiders Episode 238 with Caleb Cunningham: Insider Look: A PMP Shares His Journey to $3M & Peer Group Takeaways

• Traction, aka EOS, the operating system Donnie references

• EOS tool Donnie references: Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO)

• Book: The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack

• Book: Get in the Game by Jack Stack

• Book: Good to Great by Jim Collins

Notable: "People respond to incentives ... If you can take the time to really think through how if (employees) win, the business wins, and when the business wins, they win ... now you've got something." —Donnie Shelton

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