“I know hiring the right person takes work,” Marianna said. “But sometimes I just don’t feel motivated to spend the time.”

“Motivated? Motivation is a weasel word. You either do the work or you do not do the work. Motivation to do the work sounds like you would rather talk about the work than actually do the work. And, yes, it is hard work, but you can either do the hard work up front or you can do the hard managing after you have selected the wrong person. You decide,” I replied.

Marianna attempted to speak, but must have swallowed her words.

I pressed on. “Look, the person who actually does the work, just does it. If you want to talk about it, you are just delaying the task, perhaps hoping that someone else will do the work for you, or that at the end of the day, you are relieved of your responsibility to make the important selection. There are no management tricks in the hiring process, just deciding what you need in the role and finding out if the person is capable of doing that work.”
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Homage to Lee Thayer, Leadership, Thinking, Being, Doing. “Motivation is a weasel word.”