In today's episode, Dr. Croner discusses a question that is often asked by clients:

Past the age of 21-22, someone's level of Drive is locked in. But, as their personalities are still forming, there are ways to build healthy Drive in kids that will help them set and achieve goals, compete when necessary and approach the challenges in life with more confidence and optimism.

Listen in to hear Dr. Croner best recommendation for building Drive in your kids. 

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To learn more about Drive, check out our blog: What is Drive and Why You Need a Personality Test to Assess It.
 

At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 90 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
 If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest assessment today: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
 
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[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:30]  Chris Croner: Dr. Chris Croner here. As you know, our research has shown that the personality characteristic, "Drive," is shared by most top-performing athletes and salespeople. And, past the age of around 21-22, people's Drive levels are pretty much locked in. So, when we're recruiting it's mission critical to measure for Drive before hiring.

[00:54]  That said, a lot of my clients ask about their kids. As their personalities are still forming, are there ways to build healthy Drive in kids, that will help them set and achieve goals, compete when necessary and approach the challenges in life with more confidence and optimism?

[01:13]  The answer is yes!
 
[01:15]  While it's true that Drive is part of our DNA. It can also be nurtured and developed in healthy ways in young people.

[01:24]  And, the number one thing I like to recommend to parents, and to teachers, is setting up very clear and consistent models of accountability, reward and consequences. Not like a dictator. Simply as a way of approaching life.

[01:42]  Here's an example.

[01:44]  Let's say that to receive an allowance, a child is responsible and accountable for a chore. Say, mowing the lawn every Friday afternoon. Sounds clear enough, right? But, all too often a parent will let the chore slide and still give the child his or her allowance.
 
[02:03]  That does not build Drive. That builds a manipulative approach which over time can manifest all sorts of negative outcomes.

[02:14]  Remember, kids are masters at probing for weakness and finding the course of least resistance. As parents, if you want your kids to develop Drive and grit, it's about accountability, not manipulation.

[02:29]  One great technique to use in working with your kids to set and keep goals is to bring them into the goal setting process. Let's say you're going to set an allowance of $25 per week. Rather than saying, "You will cut the lawn or you won't be paid." It can be more productive to sit down with your child and say something like, "Let's talk about how you can earn an allowance. I'm setting your allowance at $25 per week, if you perform certain work. The same way people get paid when they're grown up. They do the work, they receive payment. If they don't do the work, they don't receive payment. Does that sound fair to you?"

[03:15]  The kid will probably say yes. "Okay. So, we agree that you'll cut the lawn for $25 per week. On Saturday mornings, we'll meet and if you've done the work, we will pay. If you haven't done the work, you won't receive the money. Do you agree?"

[03:33]  And again, your kid will probably say yes. This worked for me by the way.

[03:36]  Also, try not to bundle or pile on different types of work. The more you can tie accountability and performance of a clear mission, the more the child is likely to develop the clarity needed to build Drive. If there's too much different stuff loaded into the allowance, like cutting the lawn, homework, cleaning his room, etc., the whole point gets diluted.

[04:00]  So, in the best case, set a clear goal. Agree on it. Then consistently enforce the consequences, one way or another. That builds Drive and it builds character. 

[04:16]  See you next time. 
 

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[04:20]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[04:37]  Until next time, take care!