Unlocking the Key to Long-Term Success

I recently had the opportunity to read an intriguing article by Daniel Glynn on motivation and the elusive "Unicorn Employee", and it made me reflect on my own experiences as a successful business owner. As the founder and eventual seller of PayGlobal Ltd, a company that racked up numerous awards, including two Microsoft Company of the Year awards, a top spot in New Zealand's premier Technology Award, and 4 consecutive years in the top 50 fastest-growing companies, I know a thing or two about success. Externally, the company was flourishing, but despite that, internally we still faced a major motivation problem within the company.

Starting small and growing big, we went from a handful of staff to over 100 across New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, and the UK. As the founder, my presence was 'larger than life' - I spent a lot of my time sharing the company's vision of 'conquering the world of payslips!' I was all about the passion and clarity in my presentations to the employees, making sure they could see the connection between their daily tasks and the ultimate goal of world domination.

I was the company's ultimate salesperson, and it was a role that I excelled in. What's more, I had the privilege of watching many of those who started with us grow into management positions in our now larger company.

But therein lay the catch - the motivational flaw. An employee can't sustainably buy into the company's vision unless it aligns with their own personal vision. By being a good salesperson, I got the management team to overlook their personal visions, but that only works for so long. Personal visions can't be ignored, and ultimately, resentment builds up. 

When we were small and I was working closely with a small team, my vision as a leader was constantly reinforced, but as we grew and I had less time to reinforce the message, management resentment grew. Some began to realise they had their own visions, and disenchantment set in. It's hard to express how destabilizing it can be to a business when colleagues see managers that were once enthusiastic become less and less of a believer. In my experience, it's fatal to sustainable growth - and I believe that it was the main reason why my company never achieved 'world domination'.

To circle back to Daniel’s elusive “Unicorn Employee”, personally, I don't think the answer is to go hunting for Unicorns. The answer is selfish motivation. 

In my current quest for world domination at my new company, BlueSky, when I hire new people, I make sure to emphasize one key point to every new recruit: don't look to me to motivate you. You must only work here if it aligns with your own personal goals and motivations.

I then introduce a set of values and behaviours that serve as the foundation of our business. The motivation comes from within, and our values of transparency and inclusiveness are showing remarkable results. In our business, it's my colleagues that motivate me, and I believe that's why we're all on track to achieve our goals this time around. That's the secret ingredient to sustainable performance - the only kind of performance metric that really matters long term.