Reasons Why Some Employees Lack Motivation At The Workplace

Motivation plays a huge role in the workplace. Around 40% of a team’s success depends on the mental effort and the willingness to execute a particular job. But there are cases when there is a shortage of motivated employees, and managers are often at their wit’s end. They are unable to find a way in which they can inspire their employees. In fact, they are unable to identify the actual reason that’s causing their employees to feel uninspired. Prior to taking any kind of action, a thorough assessment of the nature of demotivation is imperative. When employees are convinced that they wouldn’t be able to perform a certain task, there is no point in urging them to put more effort, and this is where employers go wrong.

So, before anything else, you must look into the following motivation traps to understand why your best employees are lacking motivation.

Motivation Trap 1 – Values Mismatch

When employees can’t connect themselves to a particular task, they can’t derive the motivation required to execute it. Managers often take them for granted. They assume that what motivates them would automatically motivate the employees, but that’s never the case. The manager’s first responsibility is to find out what an employee actually cares about. They need to have a concrete discussion with them and unearth what’s contributing to the values mismatch. Different kinds of values such as interest value, an identity value, importance value, and utility value can be drawn out from the conversation. When a particular employee is not able to attach value to a task but the values mismatch is not that discernible or evident, the manager or employer needs to emphasize other values. One or more might get the employee hooked on to the task.

Motivation Trap 2 – Lack Of Potency And Productivity

When employees believe that they wouldn’t be able to carry out a particular task, they are bound to lose their motivation. In such a situation, instilling self-confidence in the workers becomes the need of the hour. How does one do it? Well, there are a number of ways. Draw their attention to the past when they have accomplished harder tasks and overcame insurmountable challenges. Or make them aware of people who have performed similar tasks. Build their self-confidence and self-efficacy by giving them more difficult tasks to perform. You can also break the task down into chunks that are easily manageable. That wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.

Motivation Trap 3 – Negative Emotions

When employees drown themselves in negative emotions like anger, self-doubt, and anxiety, there is simply no chance they would be motivated to execute a particular task. Spend some time alone with them and try to understand what’s bothering them. Don’t judge. Your job is to find out the reason. Be an active listener. When people realize that there is someone who cares about them, their negative emotions will automatically alleviate. If you want to choose another day to discuss these issues further, you can. This will lead them to believe that you want to consider whatever has been discussed. Try to make the employees believe that they are not less than anybody and are far from being inadequate. You can offer your help, and by doing so, you are bound to get a positive response.

Motivation Trap 4 – Attribution Errors

When workers are completely unable to decipher the exact reason that’s causing them to struggle with certain tasks, they lack motivation. You can assign a task and help them to ponder upon the actual cause. Employees often dig out excuses not to perform a task. You must ask them why the task seems unconquerable or unassailable and what’s causing them to struggle. If they are able to find out a reason that’s beyond their control, suggest to them a new strategy or ask them to apply some innovative ways to accomplish the task.

The above four motivation traps are precisely the reasons that might be stopping your workers from putting in a 100% physical and mental effort. They need to find out ways of diagnosing an employee’s motivation issues. Identifying what’s wrong and picking the right solution for it can get things back on track for sure. So before giving firing a second thought, you must take employees out of the quagmire since only their collective efforts can give them success.