Imagine you’re picking your starting lineup—or hiring your next star employee. Talent alone won’t guarantee success. Through my years of coaching, I’ve seen players show up with all kinds of motives. As a coach—or a leader—you want the ones who put the team before themselves. Seems obvious, right? But it’s not always that simple.

When selecting players or employees, we often get drawn to the most obvious talent. Who can beat defenders one-on-one? Who can bring in the biggest clients? Who looks like they’ll deliver results on day one? But that tells you very little about whether someone will show up for the team when it matters.

What if I told you there’s a bit of a shortcut to understanding what to look for?

In Patrick Lencioni’s book The Motive, he introduces the idea of responsibility-centered versus reward-centered players. Responsibility-centered players focus selflessly on the team, while reward-centered players chase the spotlight, the outcome, or personal gain. When the pressure rises, they choose themselves over the team.

Lencioni writes, “Simply stated, players who are responsibility-centered almost always exceed expectations. Players who are reward-centered almost always fail to live up to theirs.” (p. 136)

I find this language especially useful because it gives us a way to name and recognize these two very different motivations when we see them in action.

So how do you actually identify and highlight these different motives? Here are three things to try, on the field and in your organization:

Let it be known which you aim to attract. Signal that your culture is built on responsibility to the team. Reward-centered thinking won’t thrive here. People take cues from what you emphasize, reward, and tolerate. At the tryout or interview you can make this apparent. You can just state it plainly.
Ask about failure—an approach I have used at tryouts with players. What was your worst game last season? What could you have done differently? This works for players and employees alike. Humility and accountability reveal whether someone’s wired for the team or themselves. Do they take any ownership or blame everyone else.
Notice the in-between moments. When they lose the ball, when a project fails, when things don’t go their way—do they lift up their teammates, or walk away shaking their head? Motive shows up in these small but telling moments. This could even be how they treat everyone during the interview process not just those with decision making power.

From firsthand experience, once you have a reward-centered player or employee, it takes a lot of work to shift them toward responsibility—and sometimes they never get there. The key is intentional selection and culture design. Build a team where responsibility-centered people feel at home—and reward-centered people realize early this isn’t the place for them.

The truth is, the teams that flourish aren’t just the most talented. They’re the ones filled with people motivated by something bigger than themselves—on the field and in the office alike.

Steve

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