How do people who work in your company get to the office? Excited to contribute to the company's goals, or do they lack enthusiasm, and simply wait for the end of the day? Motivation at work has become essential for maintaining a productive environment and more engaged teams, and directly influences your organization's results.
In fact, when teams aren't committed to their work, businesses often see impacts in different areas of the company, including essential sectors such as support and customer service.
However, according to data from Officevibe, while 39% of people don't feel valued at work, 69% say they would be willing to try harder if they felt their efforts would be recognized.
In this article, we'll explore what demotivates teams in the corporate environment, the challenges companies face in engaging people, and tips for recognizing teamwork and promoting a culture of appreciation for employees. Read on to learn more!
What makes teams unmotivated at work?
Several factors can impact team motivation, including a lack of management, internal conflicts, work overload, and low wages. Companies must quickly identify the causes to combat each one and avoid future problems like turnover.
To give you an idea, among the main villains of motivation at work are:
Stress: No one likes working overtime, much less being micromanaged all the time. Stress and emotional exhaustion affect not only people's careers, but also their personal lives, leaving people unwilling, unmotivated, and unproductive.
Lack of feedback: When a person receives little or no feedback, they tend to become stagnant and discouraged with their work.
Lack of recognition: When employees' efforts and achievements aren't recognized, they may struggle to find further motivation.
Ineffective communication: When teams aren't kept informed about the company's objectives and outlook, they don't feel that they're valued, or that they belong to the organization.
Lack of challenges: Those who don't face challenges or see opportunities for professional growth may end up stagnant and lack enthusiasm for work.
Micromanagement: Leaders who have a hard time giving up control usually generate a lack of trust among teams, which hurts morale and job satisfaction.
Toxic work environment: A hostile work environment full of conflict and lacking cooperation makes people even more demotivated.
Lack of motivation at work: Consequences for companies
A lack of motivation at work not only negatively affects team performance, but also the organization as a whole. It comes as no surprise that this lack of engagement can be detrimental to companies of all sizes, as it has direct consequences for operational efficiency.
Below are other problems that your company may have to face in the future if it doesn't invest in team satisfaction:
- Drop in work performance and productivity
- High turnover rate among employees and difficulties in attracting new talent
- Compromised work quality
- Low customer retention
- A decrease in innovation projects and the creation of new products and solutions
- Stagnant growth, as teams aren't motivated to develop new skills
- Significant financial impacts with increased training and hiring costs
However, when management becomes direct involved in recognizing, nurturing, and motivating employees, the positive effects influence the entire organization's culture and contribute to the company's success.
In other words, engaged and motivated teams work vigorously towards their company's objectives, are more productive and satisfied with their respective roles, and are willing to roll up their sleeves to improve processes, overcome obstacles, and maintain focus.
12 tips to keep teams motivated
1. Connect employees to the company
Keep employees informed about the progress towards goals, and update teams about their objectives, performance, and everything necessary to feel more connected to the company.
2. Clearly define expectations
When teams don't understand what needs to be done or the purpose of each project, it's challenging to be motivated at work. So you should explain the importance of each project and align employees' expectations every time you assign a responsibility or task.
3. Be consistent
Individuals are unique and must be treated according to their particularities. It's therefore crucial to learn how to differentiate each individual's skills and maintain a consistent approach so that you don't favor one person on the team over another and thereby create an unfavorable work environment.
4. Listen to your team
Give employees opportunities to share their ideas and always keep your door open to new suggestions. This attitude builds trust and motivates people by ensuring that their opinions and criticisms are heard.
5. Create a welcoming work environment
Nobody likes to work in a space where people don't respect each other. It's up to management to provide the necessary tools for teams to work, including a comfortable environment where everyone feels respected.
6. Encourage communication and collaboration between teams
Encourage interactive work where everyone has access to information and cooperates. It's also vital to strengthen the internal communication and collaboration between teams so that each member is working to achieve the best results.
7. Give regular feedback
Feedback helps keep teams involved in important work. Create performance appraisal processes, identify challenges, and always look for ways to improve work.
8. Encourage creativity
Foster creativity and knowledge management by soliciting ideas from teams. Doing so shows them that their thoughts are genuinely valued.
9. Take people out of their comfort zones
Have you tried encouraging teams to take on new tasks or responsibilities outside their comfort zones? Implementing challenging activities, in addition to routines work tasks, motivates people and helps develop new skills for professional growth.
10. Stimulate professional development
Conduct training and workshops. Don't let your team stop learning. Help each person grow and find opportunities to learn more about their area of expertise. Providing a solid foundation of knowledge increases each employee's level of involvement with the team and, consequently, with the organization.
11. Reward every achievement
We don't just mean financial recognition; valuing each achievement or contribution—even just verbally—helps motivate teams to get more involved and productive.
12. Provide tools to optimize work
Platforms like Qntrl help teams gain more visibility into processes, which in turn helps increase productivity. By including tools like this in your teams' work routine, your company can help each employee optimize their daily tasks through automated workflows.
Increasing people's involvement and motivating teams is no easy task, but with these tips, your company will see that the effects go beyond individual performance. Engaged employees positively influence organizational culture and, consequently, help create a productive work environment.
