Lost Your Drive? Here’s How to Get It Back

So the big question is this, how do recruiting leaders like us who have 12 to 15 other job responsibilities win at this game of recruiting? How do we build a system that allows us to recruit effectively in a minimal amount of time while motivating recruits towards meaningful change? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Richard Milligan, and welcome to Recruiting Conversations. Hey everybody, it's Richard Milligan.

Welcome back to another Recruiting Conversations. And man, I must really love my audience to be cutting this Late in the evening, but just coming back from having spent the entire day with my awesome family. And I got to say I'm blessed. To have kids in my house right now it's a sweet season. It's a hard season in terms of juggling all of the balls that come with that. But it's a sweet season as a, to be a father and to get to have the opportunity to see my kids grow up and.

develop and see them taking the things that i'm leading them and teaching them to And acting those things out and sometimes not acting those things out So there's where the difficult part comes into being a dad but loving every minute of it wouldn't change it for the world and if someone would have told me how selfless I would have had to have lived to be a parent, I'm not sure I would have committed to it way back in the beginning.

But the truth is that You really do have to sacrifice a lot of you to have a healthy relationship with them and to have healthy kids. And so, I applaud all of you. Um, because in my own life, I have a number of parents that are great examples for me, just really close friends. I get to see them model. Good parenting and it's something really special to see from a distance. So for those of you that are doing it right, I applaud you.

For those of you that are like, ah, I'm not sure that I'm doing it right. You know what? There's a lot of space. In relationship for I'm sorry, and will you forgive me and to walk humbly and what I've seen is that in those in my own life where I've been willing to do that, that it is a way to restore that relationship so quickly. So I'm not here to give advice around parenting . I'm here to give advice around recruiting. So I'm back on track.

Today I want to talk about this thing that is so critical to being a successful recruiting leader and it's called passion. That maybe may seem obvious, that I've got to be passionate about what I do to be successful.

The reason why this comes up is because Is that it's a recent conversation for me recruiting conversations In my coaching I have these repeated conversations and as they come up again and again I use this podcast to really hit some of these things head on what I will say is this Again and again, inside my coaching, I have people that will seek me out to actually coach them for a season. And they're looking for things like training, education, motivation, inspiration.

They think they need those things. And a lot of times, I really take the time at the very beginning to slow down and really evaluate where the individual is at. And from time to time I come across someone who's ultimately lacking buy in.

The lacking buy in of most times the lack of buy in comes from not truly being aligned with their leadership. Now, some of this can just be confusion, right? Because you can have a difficult moment with your leader, and that can be confusing, where Maybe it was something you need to take ownership on and your leader had to have a difficult conversation with you. And so it's important that where you find yourself questioning, am I aligned, am I at the right place, that you gain clarity.

And so I'm going to walk through some things that I think are beneficial to this conversation. In my own life, as I look back at seasons where I've shifted from one place or one group of leadership to another group of leadership, most times, not always, but most times, there have been these places where I wasn't aligned with leadership.

Now I say not always because The toolbox does ultimately matter, and there have been seasons where I have left one organization, gone to another organization, because some really important things that mattered a lot were broken, and so that can be a driving force, but most times. People leave companies because of either a lack of leadership or a lack of alignment with leadership.

Okay, so I always want to stop there when i'm coaching someone and make sure that they are fully convinced that they're aligned And that they can truly buy into the direction that the leader's going so let's just walk through some steps here of how you gain clarity or even really how you get your passion back because You What I found is this, if you are excited about something, and let's just maybe define passion here, because the word passion, if you're

not clear on what, it means that you're barely able to control your emotions.

These emotions are so strong that you're barely able to control them. So, that's a great measuring stick for, can I be or am I currently passionate about where I'm at?

And if I'm not then I need to work through some methodology of getting clear on this Let's just walk through maybe three steps that will help you gain clarity or potentially help you get your passion back Okay One of the things that I know is that and I mentioned that word clarity again and again You've got to be clear on where you are right now Okay, but in addition to that a lot of times it's helpful to get clear on how you actually got there so Where have I been? Right? Where am I right now?

And then where are we going? And if I'm clear on those things, like how did I get here, like in this exact moment, and then where are we going right now? If I've got, if I've got clarity around, that's very beneficial making a decision. Can I re engage and get re passionate about where I am if I'm not passionate right now?

Now a lot of times where you're, where you look at where you've been, take the time to look at that and look at where you are now and where you're going, that is a way for you to get re engaged, to get re bought in. Because in my own life, as I see in a lot of other people's lives, where we are lacking passion, it ultimately is because we're weary.

We haven't taken the time for self care. And because we haven't taken the time for self care, what has happened is that we've gotten to a place where we haven't been able to rejuvenate and become restored. And so really this passion is lacking, not because I'm not bought in, but because I actually need some rest. I need some reprieve. If that's the case, What's very helpful is understanding that you're completely bought in from a heart place. Okay?

So why where you've been is important is because that really tells part of the story. It tells part of the story in that you know how you got here, right?

You bought into a leader's vision or you bought into some core values or core convictions or beliefs that they had And so where I look at where i've been to get to this very moment of where I am now There the lens of that came through that value system that belief system that passion system that existed from the beginning Okay, so that takes me to this very moment.

Now in this moment, if I'm not passionate, sometimes it can be because I'm not clear about where we're going and sometimes that can be from a lack of clarity around current leadership casting, clear direction, or around a change in leadership, or around even a change in how a leader is responding or reacting or leading. It's not, if it's not a cohesive leadership message, a lot of times confusion can begin to revolve around that, where are we going part, I don't have clarity where we're going.

And where I don't have clarity where we're going, that is a diminishment of my passion. So if you're a leader right now listening to this, what I would say to you is this. One of the primary things that you have to deliver to your current team, if you're going to retain them, is clarity. Okay? And when you go through that, those three things, where have we been? Where are we now? Where are we going? The perfect way to contextualize this, if you want to give clarity to

people, is to story tell it, right? Think about that. Like, you could very easily story tell this to someone. Where are we? Where have we been? Where are we now? Where are we going? And that clarity is important because We can get lost in the chaos of a moment in the chaos of Busyness in the chaos of a lack of busyness in the things that surround business in the day to day clarity can be difficult to come to because business can be At times, overwhelming or underwhelming, either one.

And so you need to give clarity. One of the most important things as a leader that you have in your toolbox is your ability to story tell. Now, why is storytelling so important? Because there's really what I've identified four or five tools in the leader's toolbox that matters most. Okay? And the reason why storytelling is most. One of those most critical is that storytelling gives clarity, but storytelling also allows people to understand like where you're headed. Right? Think about it.

Great stories always have a beginning. Great stories always have conflict and struggle and great stories always have this happy ending highlight reel. Part to them, right? So when we look at great stories, that's a context of a great story. And when you begin to talk about where have we been, where are we now, where are we going, you're really meeting the three elements of that, of in the beginning, the conflict and struggle, and that happy ending, that highlight reel where we're headed.

Okay, but all of that engages clarity. So the first part of this is, if you're not clear, you got to ask some hard questions. Because the second part of this is you need to understand are you aligned? Is your value system aligned with your current leadership? Now you might be thinking shouldn't I be figuring out if i'm aligned with my company? But here's the truth. Company is ultimately a toolbox primarily, right?

The company culture, the way the company responds to that toolbox, the way the company responds to the people that are employed there, all of that comes through the lens of who is your immediate leader, and sometimes, depending on where you are in the hierarchy of the company leadership chain, that can be multiple leaders. You can have incredible groups of people in another division and then have another division that's completely out of alignment with the entire organization.

And all of that can be boiled down to leadership. So the second part of this is once you're clear, like on, on certain parts of this, one of the things that you have to ask is a hard question is, am I aligned with my current leadership? Now, if you're a leader, listen to us right now. One of the important things that you need to bring to your team is this, you need to help them understand that they are aligned with you. Two parts to that. The first part of it is understanding of their values.

If you don't understand their values, how are you going to create alignment with your own values? And if you're not clear on your values, then you start there, right? How am I going to understand if someone's clear, if someone's aligned with my values, if I'm not even clear with my value, what my value is. So in my coaching, where we typically start with a leader is we start with this attractive leader framework. And you've heard me use that terminology before, right?

The attractive leader has a clear vision, can, has these clear core values. They can articulate around those. They're so clear and they're living and acting in alignment with those. So, as a leader, if I'm not really truly understanding what my values are and what the value of the person that works for me, with me, partners with me in this business, if I don't understand their values, how in the world are they going to be aligned? How in the world are they going to ever see alignment?

And so, where we see high attrition. High churn rates within an organization. What we typically are able to point a straight arrow, a straight line to is a lack of clarity in what a leader represents. So when I'm coaching a divisional, a regional, a head of sales, someone that's in a larger leadership role, when I'm coaching them and they're moving into a new position or don't have. Or haven't asked the current team to create vision or to create clarity around their core values.

I ask them to start there with the team. And the reason why is that understanding what the team has a value system,

as an individual, as individuals inside the team, and being able to point a straight line to what your values are as a leader is imperative. To make sure that you have one the right people on the bus and then two Are able to actually pull them into your vision Okay, because you would create alignment with people to do that. So so clarity Yes, and part of that clarity is am I aligned with the value of leadership around me?

Look when I see people change leave one company go to another company leave one company go start their own company A lot of times I can go back to those moments You and they have clarity that they weren't aligned with the current leadership that they were with. So not being aligned with someone's leadership ultimately can actually force somebody to make a large change, take on lots of risk, and it all comes back to this meter of sorts, this temperature gauge of sorts, of how passionate am I?

Because if I can barely go to sleep at night because I'm so excited about where we're going Versus barely go to sleep at night because I'm so worried because I don't know where we're going Right the differences between those is the difference in someone staying in an organization For a long time or someone that's willing to take some risk and to move Okay, so the second part of that's gaining clarity now Here's the third part of this you get

to a place where you are clear You I'm not in alignment with leadership. If you're going to re engage your passion, most times it means that you're going to have to take some risk. So when in doubt, work towards clarity. And if your leadership doesn't have clear core values, you can come to those on your own. You can go, you can figure those out on your own. Our values. Are typically lived out a lack of integrity gets lived out.

Someone can say Integrity is one of my core values, but their actions will actually indicate to you where whether they are or not So you can identify the value system and whether there's alignment in that value system with you Even if your leader is not articulating that to you and is not elevating the noise around this So if you don't have a leader who's giving you clarity around their values, you can determine those. And then you need to determine yours.

The most passionate people are people who are clear on their values. I'll give you a perfect example of this. Someone recently asked me, When I get into coaching sessions and I do a number of group coaching sessions throughout the week, when I get into those group coaching sessions, my energy begins to go up and up.

And a lot of times I have to pause and just bring my energy down because I'm so excited about the things that I'm teaching. And I've had, someone's asked me before, why do you get so excited about this recruiting thing?

And my response to them because i'm so clear on why I get excited is that because I empathize with the recruiting leader struggle The recruiting leader in my position in my opinion has the most difficult job In any organization if you have to lead and you also have to recruit and build the team Man, you're wearing 12 to 15 hats and then you got to put another mega hat on that recruiting hat It's a big hat and it's an important hat And it will determine the level of success in your career.

If you're a recruiting leader that has to do that. Part of the reason why my energy goes up and why I can be so passionate about this, where I can barely controlling my emotion, because that's definition passion is this strong, barely controllable emotion is because I empathize with the recruiting leader struggle because I was a recruiting leader for a long time. In one industry for almost 15 years.

And so I remember what it was like trying to figure it all out and trying to juggle the other 12 to 15 balls every single day. So the clarity of my value system ultimately leads me to a place where I can bring an enormous amount of enthusiasm into what I do. So here's what I would tell you to close this out. It is worth.

a leader you're aligned with, it's worth finding a position that you're excited about because when you get to a place where you can hardly contain your energy and your excitement about around who you're aligned with, who you're working for, who you're working with, who you're partnered with, what you're doing in your career, then you are going to be able to influence and impact a lot more people.

If you're right now asking yourself, I'm not sure I'm in the right place or my passion level is extremely low Then take yourself through this process ask yourself the hard questions get clarity. It's worth getting clarity Get to a place where you are convinced.

Yes or no I'm completely aligned with my leadership or i'm not completely aligned with my leadership And if that means that you got to go figure out what your values are And create a narrative for what the values are the leaders around you then do that.

Let me end with this I am not saying that if your energy is low, that you're in the wrong place, because what I know is that there is no industry, there's no business, there's no role in any organization where the line for growth is Is straight up.

Okay, business cycles are ups and downs incremental improvements and higher higher highs And then incremental improvements where you've got lower lows It's if you understand trading stocks where you're always looking for higher highs and lower lows Okay to make decisions around a lot of times those pieces Can indicate should I stay and should I fight? Or should I actually fight to go? Because difficult seasons are going to come and go in any industry.

Okay. But if you're aligned with your leadership, then it's worth fighting through and it's worth fighting for. Ultimately, there's a couple of stages in business.

That I talk about a lot those stages really come in this First stage of where we get really excited and energized about something because we're dreaming And that's the first stage of us dreaming the second part of that is where we take a leap like, okay We're all in we're doing it and most people end up at a new organization because they Had a leader that dreamed with them and they took the leap But a lot of times what follows that leap is this

big dip and the big dip is really the fight zone You It's where you have to bring more energy, more positivity, more motivation, more inspiration to this, whatever this is in order to get to a place that I call the climb. And if you get on the climb, you'll feel the energy of that. It's still hard, but you're headed in the right direction. And if you stay on the climb long enough, you'll get to a place where you achieve and you accomplish whatever it is you set out to accomplish.

So I don't want to ever not remember the fight zone. Because the fight zone is an important place. One of the things that I've realized in my own life is this, anything worth having, you are going to have to fight for it. That's a line that has resonated with me for a number of years from someone that I would consider a mentor of mine, although I've never actually met him.

I've read every one of his books, listened to most of his podcasts, someone that's actually influenced my life pretty dramatically, a guy by the name of John Eldridge. Some of you may know him, wrote the book, Wild at Heart. If you haven't read that book, I would challenge any man out there to pick up that book and to read that book.

But one thing that John Eldridge said one time that just resonated directly to me, as though he was speaking to me, is this, anything worth having, You will have to fight for it. And when you look at where you are and what you want to get out of your current situation, sometimes it just means digging a little bit deeper and fighting a little bit harder. Okay. But the one thing you cannot fight against is where there is a, there's clear unalignment in your values and the leader values around you.

Where you're able to clearly point a line to I'm not in alignment there. I will challenge you go take some risk and find someplace else to fight. So I hope this brought some value to you. Hopefully there's some nuggets in here. Look, if you are a leader, one of the things that I would challenge you right now, if you're listening to this and going, gosh, I don't have a clear value system. I don't have a clear vision.

You really do have to get to a place where you have that. I have a 2019 vision, but I have a vision that was a 10 year vision when I started this company in 2017. I have a 2027 vision. What were we going to accomplish in those 10 years? I know exactly what we were going to accomplish. I know the exact lens that we're going to go through. In fact, one of the things that I did before I even wrote my vision and before I determined my core values was I wrote an essay. Why would I do this?

And today I call that why we do why we here at 4c recruiting do what we do And it's basically an essay of sorts, right and it's got some bullet points We do this because we love people and people matter to us We do this because we empathize with the recruiting leader struggle We do this because great leaders influence things outside the walls of their business leadership.

There's even a lot more why we do this Okay, but the truth is that you've got to get to a place as a leader where you are crazy passionate About how you're leading and the direction that you're going and you've got to give people clarity around this now vision's important Okay, you can write out a why we do this if you want to get to a place where you're crazy excited about it Then you need to determine the core values that you're going to do this through Okay, and those core values

can be as simple as one word Those core values for us are ultimately statements. To give you an example, one of, one of our core values that we practice open real communication. I could sum that up probably in one, one let one word if I wanted to. Okay. One of the things that we say is no jerks allowed. Like we will literally not allow a jerk inside this organization. That's one of our values, right? It's just difficult people that aren't willing to to play a role inside a team.

They're just not a they're just not a fit here. And so we've developed about Eight, I think it is core value statements that represent who we are and it gives us more clarity So as a leader, if you don't have a vision, not just a vision today, but a vision that takes you through the next decade, and you don't understand why you do what you do, and you don't have a value system in place that you've established, you need to start there.

Okay, if I can help in any way to find me You can find lots of resources on my website at 4crecruiting. com You can always hit my calendar up live at bookrichardnow.

com So until you hear from me again next time or if you're watching the video until I see you again next time Have a great week everybody and if this has brought value to you, please pass it on Let's continue Educating inspiring motivating giving clarity to these people that are in this role of the recruiting leader role Thanks so much. Everybody. We'll talk to you soon. Want more recruiting conversations? You can register for my weekly email at 4crecruiting.

com If you need help creating your own unique recruiting system, you can book a time with me at bookrichardnow. com