Motivation-Based Interviewing: When Candidates Blame the Environment

This article is excerpted from Chapter 5 of Motivation-Based Interviewing: A Revolutionary Approach to Hiring the Best (SHRM, 2018) by Carol Quinn. 

Part 1: Motivation-Based Interviewing: Stop Asking the Wrong Interview Questions

Part 2: Motivation-Based Interviewing: Body Language and Relaxing Your Candidate

Part 3: Motivation-Based Interviewing: When Candidates Blame the Environment 

Low performers who lack self-motivation will often blame their environment for demotivating them. They have no problem pointing out the imperfections and shortcomings in their employer and boss. They have a laundry list of external factors that robbed them of their drive. They've shed responsibility for their lack of self-motivation and make their employers responsible.

Many employers have wrongly accepted the blame. This resulted in the birth of employee engagement, which ultimately made the use of motivational tactics the norm. Low performers insist that workplace imperfections have sabotaged their success. Let's talk about that.

A perfect work environment doesn't exist. Even if we could create it, we couldn't maintain it. It's impossible to remove all the challenges from the workplace and prevent any from occurring in the future. Whenever there are changes, for example a new technology being integrated into the workflow, employees are not going to know how to deal with it initially. That lack of know-how is a challenge in and of itself.

Hypothetically, even if we could create and maintain this perfect working environment, low performers would still conjure up new excuses for their lack of motivation, and not one of those excuses would lay blame back on them. It's not the absence of obstacles that determines success. Believing the notion that people only operate at maximum performance when their working environment is obstacle-free means organizations are hiring people who are ineffective at the process of achievement. In the same environment where low performers are blaming the environment for their lack of self-motivation and success, high performers are motivating themselves and reaching their goals.

This doesn't mean organizations shouldn't create great workplaces that will attract and retain the best (after all, everyone likes a good workplace). When employers accept the responsibility for motivating the unmotivated, however, employees no longer need to be self-motivated. It means employees can get away with being unmotivated. Employers need to make up their mind who is responsible for employee motivation, the employer or the employee. They can't have it both ways. Realize the impact of the decision. One choice creates a culture of excellence while the other creates an "excellence is optional" culture. The whole concept of employee engagement enables and fuels the dysfunctional belief in an external locus of control. Not only do employers hire this mindset, they use employee engagement tactics to perpetuate it.

What one person perceives as a negative event or influence that nothing can be done about, another sees a reason, even a necessity, to take positive action. A negative event or influence can ignite passion and steer a person to purposeful vocation. Depending on the person's locus of control, specifically if they are internally motivated, it can drive that person to fight for a cause and ultimately bring about monumental change.

The tragic story of a 13-year-old girl who was killed by a drunk driver with a lengthy prior record is an example of an external event that motivated people to take action. A group on women outraged by this tragedy believed their efforts could make a difference. They were right. In 1980, they formed Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) to stop drunk driving and to support victims of this violent crime. Today, more than 35 years later (and now known as Mothers Against Drunk Driving), the staff and advocates work tirelessly to support victims at no charge, advocate for stronger laws, and focus on the number zero: zero deaths, zero injuries and zero families impacted by impaired drivers.

I'm sure there were those who felt nothing could be done about alcohol-related deaths because they had no control over other people's actions. The point is, the power to effect change starts with believing that our own actions can make a difference despite what others believe. Those who truly believe in their power to influence outcomes get further than those who don't. That's because they are the ones who jump in and try. They take on all of the obstacles that separate them from their goal. 

Carol Quinn is CEO of Hire Authority and a national speaker with more than 30 years' experience in interviewing and hiring. She has taught thousands how to hire High Performers using motivation-based interviewing. 

Please visit the SHRMStore to order a copy of Motivation-Based Interviewing: A Revolutionary Approach to Hiring the Best by Carol Quinn.