Tips for Supervisors:
What to Do When Employees Seem to Lack Motivation
As a manager, you want every member of your team to come to work with the same passion that drives you.
In the real world, managers often have to deal with employees who are discouraged and/or lack motivation.
Is it possible to bring back someone’s passion for work? Can you actually foster a sense of eagerness in someone?
In this article, we will cover the causes behind a lack of motivation, discuss potential consequences, and have a look at what kind of action you can take to help cultivate motivation in others.
Unmotivated Employees:
An Impact Assessment
If a member of your team is negative or seems to be constantly complaining about workload or about lack of recognition, it is entirely normal to want to postpone dealing with the issue until a later date.
You may find the situation irritating. Perhaps you feel that this person should be able to motivate themselves or should just be content with their job.
However, there are serious consequences to not tackling the matter right away. Employees with low motivation can affect the rest of the team and cause a cascading frustration effect. Their colleagues may become resentful, or could perceive your inaction as further contributing to the problem by failing to deal with an obvious issue.
The impact of an unmotivated individual can be costly. A bad attitude can lead to a drop in productivity and/or you could see increased errors, slip-ups and mistakes. It’s hence crucial to nip it in the bud.
Fortunately, this type of situation can significantly improve when properly handled.
Identifying Underlying Causes:
Factors that Influence Motivation in the Workplace
It’s important to differentiate between a lack of productivity due to boredom and disinterest, and someone being genuinely unhappy or unmotivated at work. Understanding the subtle differences will help you pick the right strategies and techniques in dealing with this kind of human resources management issue.
Several internal and external factors typically impact motivation, such as a person’s:
- task-related satisfaction
- stress levels
- job setting
- workplace atmosphere
- sense of accomplishment or recognition obtained from the team
In addition, depending on a person’s profile, they will be impacted differently by each of these factors and each respond differently to any recognition systems in place at work.
For instance, some people may feel stimulated by independent work with individual rewards and incentives. Others prefer team projects with shared benefits and rewards.
In order to come up with solutions to a motivation issue, it is important to first assess each specific case and identify the underlying causes.
Find Out What Motivates People:
Everyone is Different
As mentioned earlier, people find motivation in different ways. Some bolder individuals, who enjoy risk and venturing off the beaten track, may appreciate swift and immediate rewards. Those who need a sense of security and seek stability will derive motivation from developing a skill set or further competency.
Talking to your team about motivation is key. Find out what motivates them personally, ask what they think they’d need to feel successful, and enquire as to how you can help achieve those goals.
Keep in mind that some people are not able to pinpoint and analyze what influences their own motivation levels. It is then more reliable to perform a psychometric assessment for a better sense of what likely motivates them.
Psychometric assessment provides a deeper understanding of each individual, enabling you to adopt incentives or adapt aspects of the work environment that might encourage and foster individual engagement.
What now?
Are you dealing with an unmotivated employee? Taking the time to resolve the issue before it escalates isn’t always easy, but is undoubtedly beneficial in the long run.
Identifying root causes behind low motivation is key to finding an optimal solution. The goal should be to help the individual become aware of their very own set of motivational priorities, as well as the job requirements and expectations set out by management. It is then possible to work together to bridge any gaps.
Would you like to see how MPO Solution can help you gain insight into employee behaviors and motivational needs in order to ensure success in the workplace?