Another way to demotivate employees is to constantly express criticism. This robs them of motivation in the long run. An example: A team has worked hard on a project, worked overtime and delivered good results, but the only thing that comes to the boss’s mind is: “Yes, that’s pretty good, but there’s still room for improvement.” That sounds like an accusation.
and If everything is bad anyway, why should the employees bother? Recognition is a basic need, regardless of age and position. Everyone wants to be seen and valued for what they can and achieve. If this is missing, employees will be demotivated, performance will decline and, in the worst case, you will lose employees. On the other hand, when employees feel valued, they will do more than is expected of them.
Another phenomenon that is counterproductive: managing all employees closely and giving them clear guidelines. Why? Because different personalities need to be managed differently. Some love the freedom of design and others need guard rails. The trick is to recognize what employees need and give them that. You don’t need to spend countless hours with them. If you know how to recognize this, you can determine this in the interview.
4. Limiting beliefs
A common belief that 90 percent of all managers have is: “If I move up, everything will be different. I just need the promotion. Once I get to the next level, everything will be better. Then I can do more.” The truth is: things are getting worse. Means: If you don’t change your way of thinking and your behavior, your problems will increase.
You then experience that employees do not do what is expected of them. You constantly have unnecessary discussions and waste time and energy. They are too involved in operational business, work a lot, but don’t get anywhere. And in the end you don’t have time for the really important tasks.
What does it take to free yourself from unconscious beliefs that stop you like handbrakes? Answer: The willingness to question and change your own behavior. And since it’s difficult for us to recognize our own blindspots, we sometimes need an external sparring partner to hold a mirror up to us. We often do things that are counterproductive and don’t even notice it ourselves.
