Mastering Intrinsic Motivation in Retail: Insights from Jeffrey P. McNulty

[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome to our new Retail Razor show, Blade to Greatness, our new standalone Retail Razor show, where we hear from a retail industry leader who shares their sharp insights and cuts of wisdom on how to excel in this dynamic and competitive field. In this series, we learn about the essential must have skills and qualities that every retail executive needs to lead their teams and their business to success. [00:00:30] Casey Golden: Whether we're talking about HQ or stores, we'll uncover valuable tips and advice that every retail leader can apply to their own retail career path, raising your Blade to Greatness. [00:00:42] Ricardo Belmar: I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar. [00:00:44] Casey Golden: And I'm your co host Casey Golden. [00:00:46] Casey Golden: We'll speak with Jeffrey P McNulty, founder and CEO of New Retail Ethos, creator of the Ultimate Retail Course, and author of the Ultimate Retail Manual. We'll learn from [00:01:00] his 30 years of hands-on experience as an executive leader for the Home Depot, Lowe's, Barnes and Noble, PetSmart, Shopco, Toys R Us, Publix, and Festival Foods. [00:01:12] Plus 18 years of experience as a retail research analyst having conducted over a thousand consultations with clients on Wall Street, hedge fund managers, equity investment partners, retailers, and entrepreneurs in the retail sector. Jeffrey has a myriad of experience, knowledge, and wisdom when it comes to retail leadership. [00:01:35] Ricardo Belmar: And today he's here to talk with us about one of the most important skills every retail leader needs to master. How to tap into employee intrinsic motivation. Let's listen to what he has to share with us. [00:01:46] Casey Golden: Welcome, Jeffrey. [00:01:48] Jeffrey McNulty: Well, thank you guys for having me on the show. It's an honor and I'm really pleased to be here. So that's a, that's a fantastic question Ricardo. Many retailers are expressing concerns regarding a precipitous reduction in employee [00:02:00] engagement within their organizations. Throughout my 30 year tenure in the retail sector with eight different retailers, I had tremendous success tapping into employees' intrinsic motivation. [00:02:09] Which always skyrocket employee growth, productivity, and satisfaction. Your employees and leaders will exhibit two types of motivation within your stores or businesses. You have extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation as defined as when employees and leaders are motivated to perform a particular behavior or engage in a specific endeavor to earn a reward, such as recognition, compensation, a trophy, or a company perk. [00:02:38] Or it can actually be to avoid negative consequences as well. With intrinsic motivation is defined as engaging in a personally rewarding behavior because you enjoy it or find it interesting. There are significant differences in the psychological mindsets between these two types of motivation, and as humans, we're all programmed to seek out pleasure and avoid pain. [00:02:58] So intrinsic motivation [00:03:00] comes from within the associate and is long lasting. Any organization with a staunch commitment to providing. An inclusive and rewarding atmosphere built upon a solid foundation of organizational culture will always have a loyal employee base. Intrinsic motivation should really encapsulate about 95% of your employees motivation, and here are some positives that I've experienced with implementing this strategy. [00:03:25] It allows employees and leaders to express their creative ideas and feel like they're part of a team. It demonstrates that the company has aligned its corporate mission. With employees values, shows the organization has compassion and empathy for all parties. Employees realize the, the company is transparent, authentic, and genuine. [00:03:47] All shareholders and stakeholders truly feel the brand are good stewards of the environment. Employees feel the company is always exhibiting honest and ethical behavior in their interactions with others, [00:04:00] and employees and leaders feel connected, engaged, and rewarded. For their efforts that make them feel alive and purposeful in life. [00:04:08] So I found out through empirical results from my 30 year tenure in the retail sector that asking questions allows you to tap into that intrinsic motivation of each employee and leader. And here are some questions that you can ask. There's obviously a lot more, but here are some of the top ones that I like to ask. [00:04:23] What are your passions and hobbies? This opens up a myriad of, of, of opportunities for the the employee, their leader, to kind of share what really excites them and lights their fire. How can I help you achieve your aspirations? This is important because it shows as a leader that you really want to partner with them and support them along on their journey. [00:04:40] How are you doing? Or you can ask, are you okay? Simple questions like this really open up the door to get to know the individual better. How can we improve our store or company? A lot of leaders don't want to ask this question because sometimes they don't wanna hear the feedback That could be derogative or negative, but you know what? [00:04:56] I wanna know where I stand. I want to know where I can get better as a [00:05:00] leader. I wanna know where my, my brand can get better as a leader for that brand. Then you have, what are your future goals at this company and in your life? This, again, helps you to tap into what they're really passionate about and where they're looking to go. [00:05:12] Now, you could ask something like, one, what are your one, three and five year goals? That's what was asked of me when I was a a, a younger department, head in Home Depot, down in South Florida. And finally, what do you enjoy most about your role? This is important because it lets the individual know that. You wanna find out what they enjoy because you know that's how you can position them to be successful. [00:05:31] And then as an added bonus, because I'm being on The Retail Razor Show, I'm offering a hundred dollars discount to all listeners for the Ultimate Retail course. So all they have to do is go to theultimateretailcourse.com and enter in the Code RETAILROCKSTAR100OFF. And for any of my consulting surfaces at my company, New Retail Ethos, they can go to newretailethos.com. [00:05:51] Ricardo Belmar: Oh, fantastic. Fantastic for that. So I listening to your questions, Jeffrey, what kind of strikes me is that [00:06:00] A) it doesn't seem like this should be hard to do, right? And B) I also think that, these aren't questions that any leaders asking these questions or employees should feel like they're in any, any kind of invasive question. [00:06:12] They're not, questions that are off the mark. They're things that you, honestly, if you were just getting to know someone, they're things you'd wanna know and would want to ask about them. So it really just feels like this comes back to that human factor we've talked about with you before, that you, you just have to realize that we're all people and it's all about the relationships. [00:06:29] Jeffrey McNulty: Yeah, that's, that's a fantastic point. You know as you notice, I post a lot on LinkedIn about this topic. I really am passionate about this. You, you hear about technology, you hear about innovation, and like I've said before a thousand times, I'm all for technology and innovation. [00:06:42] I really am. I'm a big supporter of it. But what's happening is I think some retailers and businesses are losing sight of employee engagement. And like I said, 75% of my business that I work with when I work with retailers and businesses and entrepreneurs is about employee engagement. It's how to you increase employee engagement. [00:06:59] That's really the [00:07:00] key right there because a lot of employees are feeling, they're feeling fearful right now. They're feeling trepidation about, already about automation coming and AI coming in, and it's really not hard to get to know people once you understand basic human nature in that we all wanna feel like we belong. [00:07:13] We all wanna feel supported, we all wanna feel like we're included. And to me these aren't really rocket science things that you need to know. But the key, the key actuator is you gotta have leaders that really care about people. And like I've, I've said before, there was 10 questions that I would ask a, a potential leader before they got promoted. [00:07:32] Why do you wanna get promoted? And you know, a lot of times it's to make more money. It's to increase responsibility, it's to have more authority. And I wanna hear that you wanna help people. That's generally what it's about. I know it's a cliche and a lot of people say it but, you know, I wanna make sure that you really care about people. [00:07:48] So tapping into intrinsic motivation is really it's a, it's a goldmine, it's a game changer because what you're doing is you're tapping into somebody's natural energy that they're motivated, they're excited, they're, it lights a [00:08:00] fire within them, and then all you have to do is then give them the guidance and the support and the structure, and then let 'em go. [00:08:05] Now, there'll be some mistakes along the way. Obviously, there'll be some mistakes and some growing pains and, and, you know, but when they feel supported, like, "hey, you know, I can make a mistake." No, you can't make the same mistake five times. Obviously, you know, you have to learn from that, but that's, that's when you're doing your, your daily check-ins and you're touching base with the employees. [00:08:22] You can find out and take the temperature on how, how well they're performing with what they're doing and giving them some of that autonomy. So, yeah, I, I, I'm a big supporter of it and I put it in my book. I put it in my online courses, and I talk about it immensely with all my clients. Th this specific topic is, is really it's really important to me. [00:08:41] Casey Golden: Thank you for sharing. So much to learn! [00:08:43] Ricardo Belmar: Thank you, Jeffrey. That was fantastic. [00:08:46] Jeffrey McNulty: Awesome. [00:08:47] Casey Golden: if you've enjoyed our show, please consider giving us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts and Goodpods. Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player and tune in [00:09:00] on YouTube, so you don't miss a minute. [00:09:02] I'm your cohost, Casey Golden. [00:09:04] Ricardo Belmar: Please share your feedback with us on Twitter at Casey C Golden, Ricardo underscore Belmar, and at RetailRazor, or find us on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram. For the best highlights from each episode, shipped straight to your inbox, subscribe to our substack newsletter for full episode transcripts and bonus content. [00:09:20] I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar. [00:09:22] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us. [00:09:24] Ricardo Belmar: Until next time, keep cutting through the clutter and stay sharp. [00:09:27] This is the Retail Razor Blade to Greatness. [00:09:31]