Motivating people to excellence (or, sadly, even just the bare minimum) isn't easy. Herding cats, leading a horse to water—you know the drill.
Plus, each generation has a very different idea of what a good work ethic looks like. That means that work ethics have changed, and your assumption of what is a baseline standard of work is not someone else's. With each generation we come up with motivational "hacks" that seem to get them moving.
But there are some people who don't respond to any of those motivational cues, making the challenge even rougher. For a leader trying to move the needle towards improvement, professionalism, or simply getting up to standard, the frustration is real.
The solution starts with understanding if the problem is really about motivation.
Is the problem a lack of employee motivation or something else?
Before dealing with the motivation issue, the first question to consider is whether it's about motivation or something else.
As with anything, the root cause is the reason for the symptoms, and a lack of motivation might just be a symptom. Focusing on fixing symptoms only means the root cause sends up a problem somewhere else, and you'll be stuck in a whack-a-mole game.
Unclear expectations. Do they not know or understand their role and what is expected of them? Make sure you've provided the training and explained exactly what is expected of them.
Lack of actual skill. Do their skills and experience not meet what's required of the job? Not everyone realizes they aren't competent, and if they aren't able to get competent, they may have to go.
Discontent. Are they unhappy and discontent with their job? That will affect their attitude and motivation.
Personal conflicts. Are there personal issues or expectations from home that are getting in the way of the job? Pressures at home are quick to take precedence, particularly if they think work-life balance skews towards life instead of work (key word: balance).
Incorrect perceptions. Do they think they are meeting the standard that they see modeled around them? Maybe they really do think they're up to par with everyone else and gently need help seeing ways to improve.
It's a good idea to sit down the the employee and calmly ask them questions to find out if these are the case.
Ask open-ended questions, not yes/no questions.
If they aren't able to answer, don't supply an answer for them so they can say yes. Consider using the Three Whys technique if their initial answers are vague or surface-sounding.
Have them tell you what their role is and see if they even understand.
Ask them what they think is expected of them. Ask them if they feel like they have the necessary skills to do the job.
Ask them to describe the work they see around them in their department. Ask them to describe the work habits and professionalism of others to see if they've even noticed it.
Get them to tell you instead of you telling them because self-realization happens when the words come out of our own mouths. Even if the movie "Office Space" made it into a joke, it's okay to ask them to tell you what they think they do, to hear them describe their own job and what's expected of them.
All well and good, but what do you actually do to get them to move the needle if the employee knows darn well what they should be doing, what the expectation is, and still can't seem to do it?
Now we get to the motivation part of the equation.
There are two kinds of motivation.
There are two kinds of motivation: internal and external (or as some say, intrinsic and extrinsic).
Some people take a job because they can't live without work and daily purpose or accomplishment, while others take a job just so they have the income to pay bills and not fall behind. The first is an example of internal motivation, while the second is an example of external.
Let's take a closer look.
External motivation.
External motivation is driven by external sources or rewards. The outcome is the focus, and the aim is to earn a reward or avoid consequences.
It is the carrot on a stick or the threat of using the stick.
As a carrot on a stick, it might look like pay raises, extra time off, or some similar rewards. That's positive motivation. As the stick itself, it might look like rejecting a raise, taking away a perk the employee enjoyed, or being assigned the less popular shifts. That's negative motivation.
Most people will respond to external motivation (though some won't; they're content to get less if it allows them to do less and still get paid). Negative motivation uses fear of punishment or discipline. It might not be the method you want to use, but there are people who refuse to respond to anything but pain. They don't want a carrot, but if they're smacked with the stick they'll move.
Remember, external motivation simply gets employees to move toward an outcome or a goal. It doesn't satisfy anything else.
Internal motivation.
Internal motivation comes from within a person and is driven by their own needs and desires. The actual action is the focus, not the outcome. That means that it feeds the need to feel independent and competent as a contributing member of the team. The outcome will fall into place, but it's not the driver of internal motivation.
It's the internal motivation that's the real powerhouse for a great work culture.
Because internal motivation is something inside of a person that drives them to work and pursue excellence without any external prompting, it's necessary for anyone who is a freelancer or who is working from home instead of at the office. They have to have an inner drive to work and not require external pressures. It's one reason why some people swear by the work-at-home movement in their own lives or for their internally motivated team, while others have nothing but frustration as externally motivated employees fail to do the work. Anyone without internal motivation will ultimately fail at working at home or as a freelancer.
Not everyone has internal motivation for their work, or may only have it some of the time.
There are times when the external motivation is fighting against the more powerful internal motivation. An employee might be internally motivated for hobbies or family but view their job as simply a paycheck and benefits that they need to fund the things they are internally motivated for. They will always do the least amount possible to qualify for that paycheck. That's tough for the leader who wants team excellence as opposed to someone clocking in and checking boxes, thinking about their personal life instead of work.
Comparing external motivation to internal motivation.
Studies have shown that encouraging internal motivation requires competence, a sense of belonging, and also a sense of autonomy.
But the self-awareness piece is huge; without an innate sense of curiosity that makes people seek out challenges regardless of whether they are rewarded or not, the leader who bears the full burden of motivation for lackluster employees has the potential to eat up significant time and energy other employees don't require.
Not only is that unfair to other employees who are internally motivated, but it's exhausting for the leader. The energy you should be using elsewhere is being traded in for the low ROI of simply keeping an employee moving. Instead of harnessing the horses, you're kicking sloths.
External motivation is not sustainable in the long run. No leader has the energy to keep juggling or increasing/decreasing rewards to get employees to do their jobs. The employee that just wants to clock in will continue to do so until they are fired. Internal motivation, on the other hand, is long-lasting.
The question isn't how to "motivate" your employees but how to foster internal motivation. This isn't easy; internally motivated employees, as you can see in this chart, have self-awareness.
When an employee lacks self-awareness, it's damaging to others.
No self-awareness? Then there's no machinery for realizing change is necessary. You're the cow pony at the racetrack who thinks he has a chance.
And while there are jobs unmotivated employees can do just fine, there are some they definitely should not have:
Fiduciary responsibilities.
Legal details and requirements.
Responsibility for the safety of people's lives.
High logistical demands.
High flexibility demands.
An integral part of a system of checks and balances.
Not only is a lack of self-awareness and motivation dangerous to your clients, but the rest of your team suffers, too.
If your company culture is oriented towards growth and professionalism, anyone without internal motivation is going to lead to frustration among the team. Those pursuing excellence won't tolerate someone phoning it in because they will have to compensate for their lack of effort and will come to resent them for the extra workload required to stand in the gap.
When your employee has no idea how to improve, what then?
Your goal is to help employees build internal motivation if they lack it naturally.
Create challenges they can achieve. Yes, that sounds like school homework. But if they can't figure out how or why to challenge themselves towards improvement, you'll have to get them started on what that looks like. They should have clear goals so they know what success looks like. And if they fail to meet the challenge, they should be told why.
Help them learn how to learn. You may need to point out obvious ways they can be successful (e.g., take notes on how to use software or use flashcards to memorize procedures). People who aren't self-aware have to be taught how to learn before they can learn.
Connect their tasks to the larger purpose. They may not be able to see why the things you're asking them to do are necessary. Help them see how their work fits into the big picture, how it affects their coworkers, and why doing a good job matters. Show them how, where applicable, their tasks can be easier, more enjoyable, less repetitious, or in some way removed of dread.
Set them on a trajectory towards competence. If you have to assign professional development work, classes, or videos, then do it. At some point, you will step back and tell them you expect them to stay on trajectory on their own without you telling them how to do it. They should have learned the pattern by then.
Lead them out of the 'it's not my job' mentality. Anyone doing just enough isn't helping others. Encourage them to look for ways to spot work that needs to be done that would be helpful to coworkers.
Move them towards autonomy. Part of their problem is requiring someone to tell them what to do, and the challenges you give them should require you less and less. Maybe you provide all the details and how-to. But each time, there is less help and detail. Ultimately, you tell them the outcome you want and they need to figure out how to get there.
No joy?
If this list above fails to take hold, my guess is you have an employee that looks like this, no matter how much effort you pour into them to help them develop independent skills:
They are excruciatingly passive. Whether how they work, how they communicate, or how they respond to confrontation (even constructive confrontation attempting to get them to improve), they become passive. Their goal is to make the discomfort go away, not learn.
They wait to be told what to do next. Every. Single. Time. That is, if you tell them to do something it's a one-off for them, not a signal that that's the way to do it going forward.
They don't look around to see what needs to be done. They definitely won't do anything outside their minimum job requirement. They are clocking in. If everyone is alive at the end of the day and their paycheck arrives, it must have been okay.
They can't identify areas needing improvement in their work or life. After all your effort, they didn't learn to spot patterns and become aware. Instead, they learned to wait until you tell them what to do.
They assume "someone" will do it. If they do something wrong or leave general work anyone could do to go undone, they just assume someone else, whether higher up or with more experience, will fill in the gap.
They think showing up only to work is all that's necessary. You're paying them for their time. They just don't think they have to give the best of it to you.
There are only so many tools (and so much time) you can invest in that employee. Positive and negative reinforcement for external motivation, steps to grow internal motivation, yes. But there is a limit.
In summary, from a leadership standpoint, you need to:
Find the root of the problem.
If it's motivation, determine levels of internal and external motivation at work.
Foster the growth of internal motivation.
Fire any employee choosing to do the bare minimum or sub-par work despite these opportunities for change.
That last point is the tough point. Some places of work make it difficult to do so. Be sure to document all of your efforts and challenges as you work this process so you have proof, should it come to firing, for why it was necessary.
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