PERSONAL GROWTH STRATEGIES & STORIES

How To Motivate A Highly Demotivated Team

Demotivation can be an opportunity for line managers to excel

I worked with a guy who got transferred from another department and revolutionized stakeholder management in my department. In no time, his impact was felt and appreciated among different levels. Yet, his line managers never gave him his due credit. There was hardly any praise or recognition for his hard work. He was passed over for promotion and other benefits. They eventually promoted him but he became quite demotivated by then. His demotivation turned into anger that he spilled on his team members. The entire team suffered and initiatives started drying up. Because of that wrong decision to not promote him, the company lost out on new initiatives.

It’s very common for employees to get demotivated. It happens quite often and can affect the company in negative ways. Demotivation can come from different sources —

1. Lack of information about company strategy
2. Not being part of a contributing team
3. Lack of recognition
4. Poor and/or toxic culture
5. Pay structure
6. Micromanagement
7. Unprofessional behavior
8. Poor leadership team
9. Unclear career opportunities
10. The same type of work for a long time, etc.

Interestingly, it’s not always the line manager’s fault. But the line managers suffer from lower productivity, morale, and overall dip in performance. Line managers can take some steps to improve the motivation level of employees. I have worked with my share of teams and found demotivated employees all the time. And guess what —

Demotivated employees are opportunities for line managers

Demotivation comes from some sort of problem. If you can go in and solve that problem, the demotivation will get replaced with loyalty. Think of your team members as customers (of your leadership). Demotivation comes from pain points. If you can solve those pain points, you will create a connection with your team member.

Six-step plan to motivate demotivated employees

Step 01: Discuss the big picture

Do you know communication is a two-way street? For leaders, it’s the most important street. Leadership is not only about giving orders but also actively listening. You must do the following to make sure your team members feel valued —

1. Communicate the strategy & why behind every activity: Employees deserve to know what they are working towards. If you can explain how their efforts help build the big picture, they will get motivated to contribute further. They need to know that they are not wasting their time.
2. Listen to them and their ideas: Once they understand the strategy, you should be open to listening to them. They might have great ideas to get closer to the objective. If it’s not possible to implement what they suggest, share clearly with them. Tell them the merits of their plans and how they can improve to make them more actionable.

Step 02: Measure demotivation to improve the situation

My friend Hugo De Bot, current VP of Growth for Yellow Door Energy, suggested this technique during a group project. Every week, he used to share a one-question survey with the team. The question asked how likely am I to recommend the group experience to someone else. When the average score went below 7, we’d have a meeting to discuss. When we received one score below 6, we’d discuss. That helped nip a lot of problems in the bud. In months, the average score for the group increased by over 20%. Because we measured it, we knew we needed to work on it.

For your team, you can send out monthly or bi-weekly pulse checks with one or two questions. If you have a demotivated team, it’s likely you will get low scores initially. That’s ok. You can only go up from there.

Step 03: Listen to the human behind the role

In your team, everyone is a human being. They have their problems, ups, and downs in their lives. You must keep an open door for them to share with you —

1. Discuss in the group: It’s important to discuss the pulse check results in a group setting. In groups, sometimes you may see the big problems being discussed. That will give you a direction about where to focus.
2. Have individual sessions: You should also have individual sessions with employees regularly. If you have a small team, you can do that every one or two months. For larger teams, you may do that quarterly. Discuss their strengths and good performances with them. Ask them to elaborate on the problems they are having. Usually, employees have one or two major problems. If you can solve them, you will be all set to become the loved manager.
3. Be open to urgent requests: I once had a team member who stopped coming to work. I was patient and even covered it from others. When she came back, she shared a personal problem she was going through. I provided my support and she remembered that. Remember that your team members are humans and they will have problems in their lives. You should provide as much support during their bad times as possible.

Step 04: Involve team members to create internal team events

A funny story — I once convinced a supervisor to do that. Team members would give proposals to him for team events. But he would then dissect them and criticize the cost of the events. The entire process became even more demoralizing.

Don’t do that. The cost of an event is irrelevant compared to the output you’d get. Remember that if you can motivate team members with free food, you should be very happy. That’s the easiest thing to do. Motivating teams will become harder the more senior the employees become.

Create a small committee to organize team events and participate wholeheartedly. If budget is an issue, communicate it to them beforehand so that they can manage within the budget. Arrange occasional dinners, lunches, or evening pizzas with the team. These will provide quick wins for you.

Step 05: Negotiate benefits for your team members

If you don’t ask, no one is going to give something extra to you. You should ask HR or other decision-makers and share how that’d benefit the business.

Don’t be penny-wise pound-foolish. Don’t count how many products you’d need to sell to cover the cost of that event. The benefits you’ll provide will be returned in multiples by your team members.

You might not get everything you asked for. But you should let your team know that you are fighting for them and share what you could get approved. They need to believe you are on the same team.

Step 06: Give your team members more exposure

To higher management, highlight your team’s good work. Thank them in emails. Create small rewards for project completions.

Also, don’t highlight their negatives publicly. Give negative feedback in private and share ways to improve.

To summarize

If your team trusts you, they will follow you. They will make your life easier. You will also end up getting lifelong friends. Their high motivation is in your interest.

Leadership is about identifying the right talent and giving them an environment to excel. I have had team members who publicly shed tears when I left a company. They showed their loyalty when I was working there as well and made my work significantly easier. I also made friends for life in the process.

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