They say that the consequences of poor corporate leadership are mostly highlighted in the aftermath of a crisis. Indeed, the recent Big Quit has been a stark reminder for business leaders of the importance of cultivating a real engagement of employees as a prerequisite to success for an organization. What are the most common mistakes that business leaders might do and lose the game with their most valuable employees?
Why is employee motivation so important?
Motivated employees are key to an organization’s success, because they accomplish tasks quickly, take action and feel the need to do a good job. An unmotivated employee may hold back the entire -otherwise- successful teamwork. Needless to say, unmotivated employees will leave the organization too easily. And when people just come and go, an organization is unable to hold a clear plan of goals and ways to achieve them, while its reputation and long-term legitimacy are diminished, traumatizing what is known in corporate communications as “employer branding”.
Starting from being unable to retain its current talent and attract new talent, then the organization will probably have to encounter a reduction in overall performance, hesitation by cautious consumers, and, in the long-term, diminishing profit.
7 ways to kill employee motivation
Poor communication: Inadequate communication is a fruitful ground for misunderstandings that waste people’s energy and motivation. Most times, leaders have multiple things in their mind and may not realize they forgot to communicate to their team members what they are really assigned with. For instance, the result for an organization is that staff do one thing, while their managers are expecting something else. This is really impeding for overall performance, as employees may find themselves losing valuable time in guessing what they have to do and being anxious due to a lack of understanding.
Allowing toxic colleagues to flourish: Cooperating with the same people in the same environment for 8 hours a day makes potential friction inevitable. But this is different from toxic behavior in the workplace, which characterizes the nature of a generally negative person. A toxic colleague is one who:
- has a problem for every solution
- antagonizes his/her mates, forgetting about the team outcome
- tries to manipulate others
- is too controlling
- is jealous of others’ successes
- gossips and creates intrigues
While the list is not exhaustive, we probably all have a particular person from work that crossed our minds. Valuable employees, who have to deal with toxic people every day of their lives and/or see these toxic people enjoying the same benefits and rewards as themselves, will soon be demoralized or even worse leave the company. So, the least that an employer can do is to ensure efficient supervision to minimize damage to the work environment.
Forget to give credit: When employers take the employee’s successful performance for granted, when they pay them less than what they deserve, when they neglect to give them credit for their effort, employees grow apathetic and gradually lose their motivation. Sometimes, just saying a simple “thank you” can make a huge difference in how people feel they are perceived in the work environment. No matter how an employee enjoys their work, their motivation will shrink when they feel that what they give lacks appreciation.
Impeding development: People work in order to survive, but, on a deeper level, work is also associated with a sense of pride and personal achievement, while forming a great part of one’s identity and self-evaluation. In this context, and amid increasing career-oriented societies, it is possible that employees need to feel that they are learning and growing or else they lose stimulus, become static and stop giving 100% of their effort. Knowing that the organization has invested in their success is also very important for their confidence and performance.
Wasting their time: A key business leadership mistake and the biggest obstacle to performance is calling meetings for every little detail that could have been an email. Bombarding people’s heads with irrelevant information shows them that you do not value their time, and consequently, themselves.
Underestimating bonding: Employee bonding describes a connection and building of relationships among coworkers, which brings better collaboration in the workplace. This neither happens overnight nor through simple, typical everyday interaction. On the contrary, it is a result of efficient organization planning, culture and investment. In its simplest forms, investment in employee bonding maybe the:
- planning of dinner or karaoke events,
- game nights,
- participation to community service, etc.
A delightful working environment is a perfect lure for an organization to keep its people motivated, as they will feel safer and free to express their creativity. Extra benefit, an employee will think twice to leave a company where he/she has built fruitful relationships.
Lack of the organization’s vision: It is very easy for an employee to lose track and direction when the organization’s values and targets are not clear in their minds. At the end of the day, how can you excel in something you do not really understand?
