I didn’t achieve much in my first few years of school. There was a lot more daydreaming than schoolwork getting done. But, Mr. Dennis changed all that.

Having moved across the country with my family half-way through the school year, I showed up in Mr. Dennis’ 4th Grade class in March. He quickly—and accurately—pegged me as an underachiever.

One day, he interrupted a space battle I was watching outside with an offer. To this day I don’t know if it was an act of desperation or a stroke of genius.

“Look, Geoff, if you get your work done, I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?”

“Whatever you want.”

“I want to build a fort on my desk with rocks.”

“Okay,” he shrugged, “Here’s your work.” He dropped a packet of papers on my desk and moved on.

I dove into the work: multiplication tables, cursive practice, Iroquois longhouses. I stayed focused and finished them all before recess. When I returned from the playground, my pockets bulging with stones and pebbles, Mr. Dennis never said a word. When I quietly constructed a castle on my desk during his afternoon lesson, he just nodded in approval.

Mr. Dennis was serious. Whatever I wanted.

Over the next few weeks, I moved my desk into the closet, I assembled a rare collection of sticks from outside, I handed papers in via paper airplane, and…I got all my work done.

What was happening here? How did Mr. Dennis succeed where my other teachers had failed?

Probably a lot more was going on than what my nine-year-old self can recall. However, years later while I was attending West Point, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Victor Vroom. [Time out. How awesome is that name?]

In 1964, Vroom developed The Expectancy Theory of Motivation which is summed up in the following equation:

M = E x I x V

Where:

• M is Motivation – The force that drives individuals to select one behavior over another.
• E is Expectancy – The belief that if you put the effort in, you’ll be able accomplish the task.
• I is Instrumentality – The belief that if you accomplish the task, you’ll receive the reward.
• V is Valence – How much you actually want the reward.

In essence, our motivation to choose a behavior boils down to three questions:

• Can I do?
• If I do it, will I get the reward?
• Do I want the reward?

As each answer grows, your motivation to choose that option multiplies. And true to the rules of multiplication, if any of the terms go to zero, your overall motivation drops to zero. Also if your valence goes negative (i.e. you want to avoid the “reward”), then the resultant motivation becomes negative.

The first two terms have a lot to do with trust. A huge part of Expectancy is how much you trust yourself to be able to perform. An equally large part of Instrumentality is how much you trust your leaders (or the system) to reward your performance. Erosion of trust in either yourself or your leader will erode your motivation.

Whether he realized it or not, Mr. Dennis nailed Vroom’s equation with me. He offered a reward I wanted. He trusted me to do my work. He proved himself trustworthy by living up to his side of the bargain. Those small choices made school enjoyable for me for the first time—and changed the course of my life.

For Reflection: Where can you cultivate trust to enhance someone’s motivation?