Where Has Their Motivation Gone? And how to get it back….

It can be so frustrating can’t it? When you have an employee on your hands who you know is capable of more, who you have seen perform at a far higher level, they used to be proactive, and motivated, but now getting them to do even the simplest tasks from their position description is excruciating, it’s like you’ve just asked them to walk through quicksand with an elephant on their shoulders….

Are you noticing this more than usual right now? With team members who you thought you would never need to worry about possibly, and you’re noticing the tone and vibe of the team is changing at the same time. You might be wondering what on earth has happened – your once happy, proactive and productive team seem to have taken a wrong turn – their motivation is completely missing in action!

If this is you right now, know that you’re not alone, it’s one of the most common challenges companies are facing right now – how to motivate disengaged employees? How to amp up the motivation, how to get them back on track, without micro managing, without nagging, and without losing your sanity in the process.

Like everything, it comes down to understanding what’s really going on under the surface. What’s causing the decline in motivation – when you know what’s causing the problem, solutions become a whole lot clearer.

Interestingly, what lies underneath motivation in the workplace is a term we call ‘engagement’ – and no – it’s not some HR technical term that we’ve made up just to sound clever, it’s a real thing. It’s a common misconception that motivation and engagement is the same thing, but that’s actually not the case. They are certainly interrelated, but not the same. What is important to understand is that without engagement, you can’t have motivation. Engagement is like the foundations of a house, without it, the house simply crumbles.

One of the best ways to explain the difference between the two is that engagement is an intrinsic feeling, a sense of belonging, of purpose, a feeling. Whereas motivation is extrinsic, motivation is the will and determination to act on those feelings that engagement creates.

So if you’re trying to get employees to take action by way of motivating them, but you’re not dealing with the underlying engagement – you’ll get a short term win at best. Yes, the cash incentive might get them to push the project across the line, but as soon as that’s done things will turn right back around again.

Whereas if you focus on internal motivators, on engagement, you get the motivation as a nice little by product.

So, back to the issue of understanding – finding out what’s bubbling away beneath the surface. There are three common themes I am seeing pop up across all workplaces at the moment which are impacting engagement and in turn motivation.

Firstly, we’re tired, we’re exhausted and quite frankly our team are in many cases burnt out. No matter the industry you’re in, it’s been a tough couple of years, and employees who have been working consistently through such a heightened period of constant change and uncertainty, without many of the true holidays, breaks and celebrations we are accustomed to – well they have hit the wall.

Secondly, many team members are finally getting in those fabulous holidays they have been planning for the last 2-3 years, but not everyone is so lucky. This is definitely leading to a good case of resentment and even jealousy for those left behind. Whilst normally this might be a non issue, because everyone can make their own plans, with inflation increasing at this rate, interest rates on the rise and the cost of living soaring – many employees simply can’t afford to take a holiday right now.

Finally, at the time of writing this we are in the middle of a crazy cold winter in Australia, and on the East Coast it feels like it has been raining for 6 months straight. We are a sun loving nation – and this may sound crazy but the weather is impacting our moods – and that has a role on effect on how we feel at work.

None of these trends are necessarily things you as an employer can wave a magic wand and fix, but when you understand what’s really driving the current slump with your team, it’s easy to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that this will soon pass.

So, what can you do right now to help re engage these people? It all starts with communication and acknowledgement, normalising how they are feeling, and allowing space for venting and unpacking their feelings. Secondly creating opportunities to look forward to, positive markers in the future. And finally, maybe this is not the time to push harder, but rather to pull back and create the space for some downtime and rest, for some interesting projects, for a break from the usual grind. This in itself will create an opportunity to reset and recharge for your people.

An Invitation
If you have questions about engaging your team and increasing motivation, I’d love for you to join us inside our free Facebook Group where you can connect with other like minded business owners, leaders and managers to discuss all things HR:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia