Humans are natural workers. Like ants or bees, we find our roles in society and seek to contribute. For the most part, work helps us feel valued, but it also gives us a reason to carry on.
Now, I know what you are thinking. Work does not feel like that for everyone. And you are 100% right. For some, work is a drag, and they can not wait to get the day over and done.
Unfortunately, that appears to be the case for many people with job satisfaction just below 60%. However, that figure has been rising over the past few years and even did so in the pandemic. It appears that people are becoming more satisfied with their careers and work.
Part of the reason for this is the flexibility being offered to many employees. Also, changes in leadership styles allow for more autonomy and better ways of working. Even so, leaders still face the problem of ensuring people are motivated to complete the work presented to them.
When we think back to all the times when we were motivated, it probably occurred outside of work. It may have been saving for a new laptop or starting a new hobby. Much of our motivations to do things occur outside of work, and there is no surprise why.
Despite our efforts to create the best environments for employees to feel motivated, we can never create the perfect one. However, we can ensure that we are not doing things that are blockers to our teams' motivation.
As we are starting to incorporate better practices and working environments, leaders run the risk of getting in the way of their teams. So, here are a few things you might be doing that is leading to a decrease in motivation.
Regular Meetings
Your type of work will inevitably define how many meetings you need to catch up with your team. So, I can not tell you how many meetings is too much or too little.
However, over COVID-19, you have probably put in a few more meetings due to not having that face-to-face contact with people. Also, with increased uncertainty, you probably had to communicate more to your team than usual.
Regular meetings are great to boost team morale and encourage progression. If good work is happening, it can also be a great way to showcase work and motivate people.
However, for the most part, regular meetings can often throw people off track. We have all been in deep work and then had a disruption that has caused us to lose focus. When we hit a point of flow, working feels easier and things feel lighter.
Time blocking is a great tool to maximise productivity and increase your chance of hitting flow, but so is an empty calendar. We use up a lot of our energy interacting with people and engaging others, and meetings can sometimes feel like a drag.
I remember having days where I would look at my calendar and instantly feel demotivated. The number of meetings would discourage me, and the constant talking would tire me out.
By encouraging empty calendars, people can plan their days in a way they see fit. This way, people can carry out the tasks they feel are most essential without interruption.
Most people feel like they have had a great day when they have had time to progress their work on their own terms. With no distractions, people are in their best shape to be productive and find the motivation needed to get their work done.
Creating Incentives
The research is already clear on this one, yet we still do it. People do not need extrinsic motivations to get their work done. Bonuses, vouchers and company benefits are not why people get up and work every day.
Although they can be nice, people who enjoy their work do not work for these things. After all, there are better incentives than a free company benefit every summer. Things like family, saving for a car or a holiday are superior.
Once leaders understand that people tend to have alternate reasons for coming to work than they would like, the better. It would be great if your team were passionate about your goals or hitting a specific target, but they are probably not.
They are passionate about their free time, hobbies and their mental wellbeing. You can not provide these things for them, and neither should you seek to. However, you can create an environment that ensures that they can produce their best work and operate at their optimum.
You may not be able to give them the passion they feel when they complete their hobbies, but you can make them feel at their optimum. Instead of creating incentives, leaders should seek to create good environments.
When we feel we are in a safe and open environment, we are motivated to do things. Remember, people already have their incentives to work. Our job is to provide an environment that makes their pursuit of those incentives easier.
Saying Too Much
Finally, we get into a bad habit of saying things that mean a lot to us over and over again. We also speak for long periods when we feel like we need to fill the time or are communicating something important.
One example is when we allocate too much time for things that do not need that long. We tend to say too much and do too little in the time allocated. All this does is lead to unproductivity.
In times of uncertainty, leaders may often feel obliged to communicate more than they need to and reiterate more than necessary. However, these are the best times to work on effective communication and focus on saying what you need to say rather than what you want to say.
When we say too much, we do two things:
- We signal to others that we value our voice other theirs
- We signal to others that we do not value their time
Effective communication ensures that we can say little and yet get our message across. There is nothing more demotivating than knowing that you have to sit through someone ramble at you for the next 30 minutes.
So, think about how you are communicating your message to ensure that your team feel valued and motivated.