Five Barriers to Successful Employee Motivation

The blame game is a powerful component when employees display a lack of motivation. Interestingly, it's a strong factor on both sides of the equation.

Managers complain about individuals and teams that lack motivation, professional pride, and dedication to high performance. Employees whine about supervisors' lack of knowledge, support, communication, and education.

When mixed and baked, this negative stew can be a very dangerous meal. Unfortunately, like many bad habits and behaviours, lack of motivation can devour and expand like a dangerous virus throughout the company. And when both sides use the blame game as justification, solving the problem becomes even more difficult.

Five Common Barriers to Employee Motivation
You may have, at one point or another, experienced the following feelings, attitudes, and beliefs that can destroy motivation and performance.

1. We're not paid or recognized for working harder and longer. While always a common feeling, the effect of the recent recession has increased its popularity. Unfortunately, many employees adopting this attitude are correct. Many employees have recently witnessed downsized and laid off co-workers receive severance packages, paid training to learn new skills, counselling, and other exit benefits, while remaining workers worked harder, longer, performed other duties, and received the same or less compensation.
   
   
2. We don't agree with the process, but we've always done it that way. A common motivation destroyer since the mid-20th century, this barrier often grows through lack of two-way communication. Many employees working in the trenches have wonderful ideas for operations improvements, but are seldom asked for their suggestions. Conversely, management often forgets or refuses to explain the necessity of certain policies and procedures. Staff then assumes management lacks knowledge or a commitment to excellence.
   
   
3. My manager has no clue what I do and how I do it. This barrier can become an employee, team, manager, and even company killer. Although good leaders may or may not be loved by their troops, they must always have individual and team respect. Being a brilliant and knowledgeable manager is of little value if those being managed do not agree. Employees, however, sometimes assume that supervisors don't know what the team is doing simply because the manager isn't performing these tasks.
   
   
4. We do as little as possible, but just enough to avoid being fired or laid off. When employees feel unappreciated or valueless, they sometimes adopt this attitude. It is a total motivation and dedication destroyer. You could easily find numerous real world case studies that reinforce the danger inherent in this barrier if it is not addressed forcefully and quickly.
   
   
5. We're required to perform tasks that aren't in our job descriptions. When people use their job description as their working bible, these feelings often arise. But usually this barrier grows from a different underlying issue. Unless one is working in a strict, by-the-book workplace, most employees are willing to help whenever needed. However, should other barriers, real or imagined, arise and confidence in management erode, many employees blow the dust off their job descriptions and approach the phrase "other duties as assigned" with distrust.

As an individual, you simply cannot wait for supervisors and management to eliminate these barriers. You must first generate your own professional pride. Regardless of your job and position on the organization chart, you should always give 100 percent.

You may have good reason to agree with one or more of the attitudes above, but you must first learn whether your reasons are real or imagined. If imagined, take the necessary steps to open communication with managers to help, not accentuate, the problem. Should the reasons for your lack of motivation be real, it may be time to consider looking for other employment. Even if you have limited authority at your company, you always have total power over yourself.

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