Five tips for more motivation

Imagine the CEO of an up-and-coming company, let's call him Mr. Hampe. At the moment, Mr. Hampe is having anything but an easy time with his company, partly due to Corona. And this despite the enormously good sales figures. The reason for his displeasure are a few of his employees, who are becoming increasingly unmotivated and hardly put any passion into their job, as they used to. Of course, this is also due to the current home office situation. Trust is strained, and although Mr. Hampe seems to be trying everything to communicate with his employees and bring back motivation, nothing changes.

Not even the spontaneous wage increase at the end of the year - which employees should have been happy about - worked to any significant extent. For a moment, everything was OK, then everything was back to the way it was before. More and more, Mr. Hampe therefore sees his goals in danger and imagines by far the worst scenario. Namely, that the customers notice something and turn away from his company.

But he is out of ideas as to what he could do to turn such a scenario around and get his people excited about the company and their work again. Mr. Hampe is groping in the dark and needs outside help. That's how the two of us come together.

For more motivation worry? "I don't know what else to do"

That is the résumé that Mr. Hampe draws after his remarks, while I briefly reflect and realize what is actually going wrong in his company and what he has not even given a thought to so far: It has to do with Mr. Hampe himself.

Because of the stress, the extra work and the distancing attitude of the last few months, Mr. Hampe has distanced himself further and further from his employees and made many superficial decisions. He promoted some with a quick hand, others not. Things were going great and the numbers were right. But part of his team saw things differently and also distanced themselves. His attempts to rekindle it now with nice gestures failed, because the team is interested in more than just these gestures.

So I give Mr. Hampe a handful of tips for more motivation among his employees.

Tip 1: Getting to know the employees better

If you want to manage employees - a company's most sensitive as well as most demanding resource - you need a feel for people. Without this intuition, you are in the same situation as Mr. Hampe. You try many things that seem intuitively correct, but you can neither identify nor meet the expectations and needs of your employees. They make short work of it. When they distance themselves or even leave the company directly, it is often because they do not feel understood or because the chemistry with the boss is not right.

The point is that you as a manager can influence both causes quite easily. If Mr. Hampe no longer tries to fob his people off with short motivational speeches and nice gestures, but instead engages with them and values them, he will be able to make a difference and motivate them. Because he knows where to start in concrete terms.

Tip 2: Do not make false promotions

Most companies promote those employees who stand out for their outstanding performance in their current position. Mr. Hampe's company is no exception. But his hasty move should be taken with a grain of salt. People are good at their jobs when they enjoy them. When they take care of areas in which they can develop by nature and in which they are wonderfully knowledgeable. Getting promoted always means having to leave your comfort zone. Some people cope excellently with this, while for others the joy changes to frustration after a short time. Because they realize that they were wrong to leave their comfort zone and move up to the next level.

Mr. Hampe recently promoted one of his best sales people to team leader. He thought he could praise the salesperson's exceptional performance by doing so. And the salesperson happily accepted the offer. But then he realized that he was no longer selling, but had a team to lead. He realized that this was not for him.

If you want to promote your employees, talk to them about it in detail. And - building on the first tip - get to know them better so you can uncover their true potential and promote them to positions they enjoy as much as their current ones.

Tip 3: Encourage your employees to self-reflect

Not only do you need to know your employees, but your employees need to know themselves. Don't assume that everyone knows themselves and is aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Many people find it difficult to view and evaluate themselves realistically and critically. Therefore, you need to encourage your employees to reflect on themselves and to develop themselves proactively as well as efficiently. Talk to them a lot and always encourage them to question themselves. Also, "observe" them by agreeing on goals and measuring their performance. The wrong thing to do is to withdraw and only react when problems arise. Think ahead and anticipate problems before they arise. In addition, your employees will grow in themselves and become more efficient at what they do. As a result, some problems will solve themselves.

Tip 4: No solution to the problem through wage increases and bonuses

The "I'll just pay my people more wages and then it'll be fine" thinking is widespread. But it is not a problem solver; it works more like a drug: You take it, and the symptoms of the illness disappear or are alleviated. Nevertheless, you feel weak and unable to perform, because the cause, the reason for the illness is still there. In the meantime, there are many studies that make it clear that people in the job hardly care about the salary or the benefits, but rather about qualitative factors. Leadership and development opportunities are particularly important.

So as a boss, don't try to fob off the concerns of your employees - as Mr. Hampe did - simply with a "Zückerli" in the form of more pay or benefits, but instead devote yourself to the real problems and lead people optimally. To be able to lead optimally, you must always be present, attentive and fit. You must be on fire for your position so that your passion spills over to your employees. Be with them, support them, be up for anything and always have an open ear. Even in stressful situations.

Tip 5: Expanding the gut feeling with facts from the outside

You are sitting in front of a control panel with many motivation buttons. And now it's your job to push the appropriately correct button for all your people. This sounds easier than it is. It is challenging, even with the tips already mentioned. Experience shows that especially strong age differences and different characters between the employees and the manager make it difficult to empathize with the other party.

Therefore, the last tip is: Take a completely objective outside view of the relevant employees, listen to your gut feeling and - if things inevitably get stuck - get perspectives from outside, ideally from an experienced personnel coach. Online assessments are an important keyword here. These are aptitude-diagnostic test procedures for determining job-relevant personal characteristics. At the latest, online assessments will give you the insight you need to solve the motivation problem.

And one thing is certain: Either everyone is satisfied in the end or no one is. There is always a win-win or a lose-lose situation. And as negative as the second sounds, it is just as positive for your company as the first.

Author:
Christoph Meier is an experienced HR development expert and since 2008 owner and expert of Outvision GmbH St. Gallen, one of the leading Swiss providers of online assessments for recruitment, promotion, talent search, leadership and team development. www.outvision.ch