If you're leading a struggling team and motivation is tanking at work, you aren't alone.

Employees are stressed and overwhelmed. Engagement has bottomed out yet again. Leaders see it and they're trying to fix it.

The problem is most of them are reaching for the wrong thing. Today, let's talk about what's actually going on and what to do about it.

Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help leaders

work better by design. You can reach out to me to speak at your next event and subscribe to my

brand new Work Better by Design email series at lead abovenois.com

slash email. Links are in the show notes. So have you ever been sold a gym membership,

believing on some level that just paying the money and signing up is somehow the solution to all

your fitness woes? I mean, haven't we all at some point? Those salespeople work on commission.

They give you all the inspiration you need. It's just they don't always mention the part about how

after you sign up, you've got to do the work. I mean, the inspiration is a great kick in the pants.

But without the work, you're not likely to get too

far on that fitness journey.

The gym sold you on the idea that joining was the move, that the energy of the place,

the equipment, the classes, oh, you're going to love it here.

So when you find yourself holding the membership card but not super showing up for the work, you're left

assuming you're the problem, no willpower, no self-control, and you end up feeling worse than

when you started. The same dynamic is playing out in workplaces these days, and genuinely

well-meaning leaders are selling the same false promises. But it's not a

fitness problem. It's an overall motivation one. Leaders can see their teams are struggling. Low energy,

people going through the motions. And Gallup keeps reminding us that engagement is tanking.

And leaders, like the gym salespeople, are responding with

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