Motivation: What Can You Do?
We want to start off by saying this blog is not a blog where we have the answers to motivate you or is it a blog where we believe will change your life. However, this blog will guide you in hopefully motivating you and your employees further in the future!
What is Motivation?
The first question we have to answer is, what exactly is motivation? Simply, it is what encourage you to do something over time. Motivation can be broken down into two categories:
Intrinsic Motivation: This is the desire to do something as you truly want to and you take pleasure or sees value in doing it
Extrinsic Motivation: This is doing something not for the enjoyment, but doing something will lead to a certain result
An example can be a footballer. One footballer may just want to play football, not because of the money, fame or trophies, but because he/she enjoys playing football and is something he/she just want to do. This is intrinsic motivation. Take player number 2, who is motivated to play football as he/she wants the glory of trophies and fame of a footballer. This is extrinsic motivation.
Workplace Motivation
Workplace motivation can be looked at why an employee puts a certain amount of time, skill and performance in his/her job. Theories such as Abraham Maslow suggests employees become more motivated as they climb the hierarchy of needs, allowing the employee to meet certain needs, until they get to the top of the pyramid where they are able to help others come to the top too.
It is the manager’s priority to ensure that employees are motivated and satisfied within their role. Many companies mistakenly believe increasing salary is the motivator, when in fact this can act as a de-motivator. Employees and managers can look to answer these basic questions:
What is my value with this company?
Why I’m I committed to this place?
Why do I choose to work here?
Is my role purposeful?
How can I help others to achieve higher purpose at work?
A motivated workplace will allow the company to reap tons of reward, both in the short term and long term, allowing a company to flourish and grow together.
Effects of Higher Motivated Employees
Demotivation
There are many ways motivation can increase or decrease within the workforce. Demotivation will in turn have the adverse effect of what we have mentioned above, leading to dissatisfaction, decreased performance, lower innovation and overall an unhappier workforce and team.
But what can cause demotivation? Some top causes of demotivation in the workplace are:
Boredom
Lack of Communication
Lack of Job Freedom/Micromanagement
Workforce/Management
Lack of Progression/Growth
Lack of Connection to Job/Company
All or a combine of the above can lead to demotivation with the employees. Every single employee is different and so all will be needed to be treated differently, however, the above are generally what makes employees want to quit their job and move to greener pastures.
Self Motivation
The manager is there to help and guide the employees, but inevitably motivation needs to come within. How can employees become more motivated. Below are some of our suggestions:
Enjoyment
Look at the parts of the job you enjoy and find the reasoning of why you took the job in the first place. Cut out the negative work talk to allow your enjoyment to flourish. Remove anything which may drain your energy or the energy of the work you are doing.
Communication
Humans are social creatures. Communicate and bond with the colleagues, looking to communicate the positives of the workplace. Ensure if you need to vent, vent to people outside of the work sphere. If the lack of enjoyment is consistent, look to your line manager to communicate the reasoning.
Monitor, Self-Assess & Focus
Acknowledge yourself and the work you do. Acknowledge the purpose you have for the job and for others. Look and monitor the progress you make with the company, and have progression charts of what future progress you are aiming for. Be sure to focus on your goals and the quality you can bring!
Sharing & Organisation
Share ideas with others to allow creativity to continue flowing. Organise your own work into easier manageable chunks, rather than trying to do everything at once. Break it down and if it’s not broken down enough for you, break it down even more.
Motivating the Workforce
As we have seen, there are many reasons to try and motivate the workforce as it will lead to a net benefit. Managers can motivate the workforce by ensuring:
Involvement of Employees: Allow employees to feel part of the bigger picture
Coaching: Coach employees and support them to develop themselves
Building Rapport: Make sure it’s not a case of ‘us’ vs ‘them’, but rather a ‘we’
Value: Show and reward value to both individuals and the team as a whole
Communication: Ensure there’s timely communication, meeting and updates
Need help in motivating your team? Click on the link below to see our training on motivation - An Introduction.
