7 Ways Your Boss May Be Killing Employee Motivation

Sometimes, demotivation comes from lack of energy. Sometimes it’s because things at home are tougher than usual. Sometimes you’re going through a mental crisis.

Other times, the problem may be your boss.

If you’re a junior employee reading this, you will learn ways your boss could be the reason for your lack of motivation. If you’re a manager reading this, you may realize some of these things you could be doing yourself.

1.     Micromanaging

It’s one thing to direct people and another to define their every move. Every employee working in a company is an individual with individual personal styles and opinions. Forcing different personalities to adopt one specific style of work kills their creativity and passion for work.

2.     Focusing on mistakes

This isn’t about discussing a few errors here and there; it’s about discussing only mistakes all the time. If team members receive nothing from their boss but criticism for errors and no praise for work well done, they feel resentful.

3.     Dismissing ideas

No smart manager will ever ignore or attack their employees’ ideas. They will discuss ideas, tweak them, find common ground or accept them as they are, but they will not dismiss them. Employees want to feel valued, and having their ideas tossed back at them without so much as a small assessment is incredibly de-motivating.

4.     Making empty promises

A well-justified “no” is much better than a thoughtless “yes.” If a manager’s stock response is “I will try to…” or “…hopefully that will happen” but he or she does not follow up afterward, you can bet that, before long, employees will understand that such responses are merely used to simmer them down.

5.     Setting unrealistic deadlines

Deadlines encourage productivity. In fact, they are often considered one of the most effective motivators for getting things done. However, if a manager is setting impossible-to-meet deadlines, employees working past their limits will feel extremely de-motivated in the long run.

6.     Picking favorites

Favoritism is a terrible practice no matter who you are or what the environment. A boss who favors certain employees is obviously biased in decision-making, something that hurts other employees’ feelings, the pet employee’s credibility and their own reputation.

Measuring success incorrectly

How a boss measures employee success determines how those employees work. The wrong performance measurement metric can hurt morale. For instance, it often makes little sense to measure employee performance by time in lieu of quality of their work because not everyone works at the same pace.

The secret to good leadership is leading with transparency, consideration and compassion. If you’re a manager looking for more inspiration to better lead your staff, check out Steve Rizzo’s inspirational keynotes and hire him for your next business event. This professional speaker has a riveting and relatable approach to addressing everyday work problems.

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