Impacto Ambiental

Sometimes an employee is labelled as having the wrong attitude to do the job. It’s acknowledged that they’re the right person for the job and they certainly don’t lack training. However, they just don’t seem motivated.

Some years ago when computers started to become an integral part of many jobs, some organisations encountered problems with certain employees. They were heard to say, ‘These comput- ers are a waste of time, I’d rather do it the old way’ or ‘There’s no way I’m using a computer’ or ‘I hear that computers make mis- takes and give you even more problems’ or ‘This is a complete waste of money.’

On hearing these comments, some managers would accuse the employee of being negative and having the wrong attitude, of living in the past, not thinking of the good of the company and not being motivated to do the job.

These responses from managers may be true but perhaps there was another reason for the negative comments.

It was found that once the dissenters had been trained to use the computers, they often became their strongest advocates. In other words, it wasn’t a motivation problem, it was a training problem that could be easily resolved.

Sometimes when employees are faced with a new job, a new task or a different way of doing things, they may appear negative and lacking in motivation. However, they may just be afraid or inse- cure about taking on a new task, not being able to do it and making a fool of themselves. And of course, if you’re not spend- ing quality time with them, then they’re unlikely to share their concerns with you.

I had a client who had difficulty sending some of her female team members on my two-day residential training course. As mothers, they were citing children commitments as a reason not to attend the course. The manager offered to resolve the child- care issues but still met with resistance from some of her team. She put it down to a bad attitude and a lack of motivation. However, more thorough investigation may have identified what the real problem was. Perhaps the team members had a fear of training courses, of meeting new people or even staying in a hotel. They may even have had a spouse who didn’t want them staying away from home overnight. And of course, it may just have been a problem with childcare.

There could be a way around these sorts of concerns, possibly by reassuring the team members that they won’t feel threatened on the training course. You may even wish to phone their spouse and discuss the situation with them.

Again, you may not be able to resolve these issues but your greater understanding and willingness to listen will improve your status as a Motivational Manager.

Sometimes you will encounter a motivation problem when a team member is ‘punished’ for doing the job well. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘If you want a job done well, give it to a busy person’? This often happens in an organisation when an employee does a job well and is always busy getting on with it. People then give them more work or responsibility because they know they will do it well. However, the employee gets over- loaded with work and starts to get demotivated.

That’s why it’s so important to spend quality time with every member of your team, not just the poor performers. People who are overloaded with work may not always tell you, perhaps because they don’t want to appear as a whinger. Nonetheless, they are in danger of becoming seriously demotivated. Spend time with them and assess their workload. If it’s too much, find someone else to do it.

There’s another reason why you may think you a have a motiva- tion problem with a team member. Sometimes people don’t perform well or appear demotivated just to get your attention. Now I appreciate that this is a situation that some managers find difficulty in getting their head around. However, it does happen. We looked at acknowledgement in Chapter 4 and the fact that some people may behave badly in order to get your attention. I’ve been in the situation where I’ve spent time with one of my team trying to find out what’s wrong with them and why they’re demotivated. They come up with all sorts of issues that seem triv- ial and we go round and round these issues not getting anywhere. I end up thinking, ‘What’s wrong with this person? I can’t under- stand them and I don’t know what to do with them!’

All the time I spent with them may just have been satisfying their need for acknowledgement. The issues they raised were trivial and there wasn’t any real answer to them, so I needed to try another approach.

I eventually found that it was better not to concentrate on why they were demotivated; it was far better to concentrate on all the things they did well. So I made sure that I ‘caught them doing