Demotivation Insight  

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Demotivation Insight  

Fortunes have been, and continue to be, made studying and teaching the art of human motivation in the workplace.  Businesses want more from their employees, and turnover is so very costly.  We can’t seem to get enough of this stuff we call motivation.  Well, we are Americans.  We want more, of everything; and we want it better, faster, cheaper.

Susan LeMiles Holmes
Susan LeMiles Holmes

The reasons people work are as unique as individuals themselves.  But we all work because we obtain something that we need from work.  That something may be self-esteem, social interaction, money or the love of competition, love for a cause.  Everybody is different.  Good managers help employees find ways to experience that motivation at work.

Although motivators are vastly different for each person, it seems that workforce demotivators are eerily the same for all people.  The trick is to not destroy the intrinsic motivation that every employee has about something.

In coping with demotivators and my own frustrations over the years, I have amused myself by categorizing and naming them.  I know you will recognize the situations, and I hope the name-tags make you smile.

Barney Fife Rules are forced on the many due to the bumbling, incompetence or misbehavior of the few.  Remember in the TV sitcom where Barney was only allowed to have one bullet?  Organizations need policies and rules to create a legal, ethical, effective workplace. They do not need a policy to solve every little problem. Why burden all employees with a policy or a procedure when you really need to individually address the behavior of the few?  Is it cowardice or convenience?

The Gotcha’ Technique focuses on the most trivial employee mistakes without comparing them to successes.  Stop that!  Take a deep breath and analyze the positives versus the negatives.  Make a T chart and list them if you must.  Let’s get real; if a manager is merely expressing his own frustration, it’s demotivating.  If an employee is making critical errors all of the time, man up!  Improve your team’s motivation and get someone else.

The Filibuster Factor is a sneaky thief.  The guilty manager holds meetings, coaching sessions and performance reviews in which he does all the talking.  Only a rare employee finds being “talked at” motivating. This manager may be afraid that if he stops talking, the employee will make demands he can’t fulfill, or worse, the employee might be able to explain his actions. The manager may be uncomfortable with the silence needed by the employee to gather his thoughts.  The non-stop talker could be completely unaware of his own behavior. Even in organizations that encourage employee involvement, managers are not always skilled at engaging the concept.

To read more of this article by Susan LeMiles Holmes, read the December 2014 edition of VBR under the “Current & Past Issues” tab on this website, or pick up a copy on news stands.

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