5 Ways You Could be Damaging Employee Motivation and Morale in Your Team
The hardest thing for a manager to accomplish often seems to be employee motivation. Sounds like the simplest task a manager would have, and it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking it’s the employee to blame, but the problem is not always the employee;, sometimes the manager themselves, or more specifically, the manager’s own management style can be contributing to the problem. So how do they do it? Is there something we can learn from the greatest managers, which, if applied, will give us the same results?
There are many articles and books written about how to increase employee motivation and morale – many of which are very useful, proven techniques, but sometimes there are things we are unconsciously doing in our teams or organizations which are actually damaging employee motivation levels – and what we need to be focusing on here is recognizing if we are guilty of any of these, and simply stopping that behaviour!
Great managers inspire people – to better productivity, as well as higher levels of loyalty. There are 5 key ways they realize they will damage this trust and loyalty.
1. Incongruent Actions are actions that do not reinforce how a certain set of circumstances are to be handled. The manager tells their employees how the situation should be handled and then does the opposite; such behavior sends the wrong message to the employees. One example of this might be where staff are told there is no money for pay rises this year – and that under the circumstances they should understand, and accept this, but the top management get a bonus – despite underperforming!
2. No Action Ever felt a manager is “all talk – no action?”. The bottom line is, when people don’t do what they say they were going to do, it erodes trust. Erode trust – and your people won’t see any reason to take what you say seriously – and they certainly won’t go the extra mile for you!
3. Overcomplicating the Vision: If managers make the vision for where the team and wider company is going so complicated that no-one knows what it is if they are asked, then the chances are your team will not be inspired to work hard for it..
4. Lost in Detail. This is where a manager becomes so focused on details that they miss the bigger picture themselves. Often, a side effect of this is they fail to see where things might be going wrong. The trouble is, the team knows and sees it, and they lose faith in the manager’s ability to lead.
5. Not dealing with the really negative people on your team Sometimes we think it’s easier to just ignore the staff member who is constantly moaning or whinging; people who are almost enjoying doing what they can to sabotage your efforts. However, ignoring this can store up bigger problems – not least, infecting other staff with their negativity, and losing you credibility form staff who see you as too weak.
Do you recognize any of these morale killers in your own team or organisation? If you do, then before you start looking at what you can do to increase employee motivation – look at what you need to stop doing first!
Shona Garner has taught busy managers and teams to increase communication and productivity for over 30 years. Using her comprehensive database of resources, managers can find information, practical ideas and coaching support for any situation with their team. Visit her site to see how much information can help you with over 100 people management challenges and increase your employee motivation and morale.
Author: Shona Garner
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