Breaking the Team’s Spirit: Ways You’re Demotivating Employees

Employees enter a new job with high motivation — excited and eager to perform better and do a good job. As months pass, however, motivation starts to wear away. This is not because managers are failing to engage their employees. What actively demotivate workers the most are organizational policies, systems, and management actions.

Managers Can Be the Problem

Sometimes, the managers cause the problems; instead of motivating their employees, they demotivate workers with their actions. Micromanagement or dictating each detail of how a task should be done is one major demotivator. It deprives people of autonomy and communicates that the manager believes employees are incompetent and incapable of making important decisions.

The Unachievable Deadline

Many managers believe that workers can unlock their potential by giving them extra work with unachievable deadlines. This belief, however, only contributes to employee disengagement. Some workers are willing to work hard to achieve a challenging deadline, as long as there is a reasonable chance of making it. If you give them an impossible timeline, the motivation may dribble away.

Simply Bad Management

Workers become demotivated and then leave their jobs because the management unconsciously makes it difficult for them to accomplish their tasks. Never-ending paperwork, unachievable timelines and high levels of required approvals make employees feel frustrated. Managers also supply inspirational directives, without thinking if they can answer legitimate concerns. Supposedly engaging directives (Failure is not an option, You can do it) do not always solve the problem; they just communicate that managers don’t understand the issue.

Organizational Procedures

Apart from bad management, organizational systems and procedures can drain motivation. Companies always seem to acknowledge that people are their greatest assets, and are important in producing good results. Systems and policies, however, communicate the opposite message. They push people to work hard, without even realizing that it negatively affects employee wellbeing.

There are plenty of ways to engage and keep employees motivated to foster positive relationships. Brad Montgomery believes that employees need proper motivation to perform better at their jobs. As a trusted keynote speaker, he can inspire the whole team and help managers develop close bonds with their direct-reports. Contact him today and find out how he can engage your whole team through motivational speaking.