Unmotivated Employees? – You Could Be The Problem
There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t hear a manager or business owner lament about unmotivated employees and how they are wasting and/or investing enormous amounts of time and energy in trying to find the solution. While such frustration is understandable, a piece of the puzzle that is often overlooked is that they themselves, as managers and business owners, may have contributed to the present unmotivated state of their employees. It is also understandable that many managers and business owners don’t like to hear that they may have contributed greatly to this situation. However, if they really want to own this problem, they need to accept that they may have played a part in creating it and that the only way to turn the situation around is to look very closely at and rethink their complete hiring process. Let’s take a look at what can be improved.
Get clear on who you want to hire: Just like people write down a list of what they are looking for in a life partner, you also need to do this regarding the type of employee that you are looking for. For example, a person covered in tattoos may work in one environment but not in a more conservative one. Likewise, a very in-your-face personality may work in one office but could cause havoc in another. Get detailed! What kind of persona and/or attitude are you looking for? The more precise you get, the more you will be able to exclude candidates that just won’t work out for you. The right attitude is essential when it comes to the hiring process. People with the wrong attitude for your company will only cause disruption and will leave, if you’re lucky, without having contributed much; if you’re unlucky, they will stay and be a major burden on your resources. Hiring someone just because they are breathing is not a great strategy, and while it may give you a body in the meantime, the ultimate cost to everyone involved will inevitably be enormous.
Create smart interview questions: It seems unbelievable, but many interviewers still ask questions like, “Tell me what you feel is your best quality? Such questions only solicit canned responses that mean absolutely nothing! Instead, ask questions that start with “Can you tell me…?” or “Would you tell me…?” instead of “Tell me.” This makes the candidate feel that they are more in charge of the situation and are not just responding to what could seem like an order, and they are therefore more likely to give a more useful and honest answer. It may seem obvious, but also look out for candidates who speak badly about previous employers and/or coworkers or who blame everyone and everything for situations or tasks that did not work out for them. The focus here is to hire high performers, and these individuals never blame other people or give rehearsed, canned answers.
Motivate vs. inspire: There are different schools of thought here, but I personally believe that your job as a manager or business owner is to inspire your employees rather than to motivate them. I firmly believe that individuals need to bring their own motivation to the table, and then I can inspire based on that inner motivation that they already possess. While I like to believe that nothing is impossible, it is a complete waste of one’s resources to try to inspire a person who does not want to be motivated. Move on and hire better so that you can really create a great working environment. Someone once said, “Slow hire, fast fire.” Personally, I could not agree more. Toxic, unmotivated, and lazy individuals create massive problems for a company; one of these individuals can influence people around them much more than a positive person can in the office. Never forget this! They are the death of a positive and motivating environment. Getting rid of such people needs to be addressed quickly. Labor laws, especially in Europe, can make this difficult, so make sure you work with a savvy labor consultant.
Avoid generic job ads: How you recruit new employees is constantly changing in this new world of social media; however, if you need to place a job advertisement, please make sure that you avoid the generic platitudes and expressions that still so often show up in such ads. Often, I ask myself what such expressions as “dynamic work environment” and “great possibilities for growth”, really mean. These could mean anything to anyone and may not get you the applicants that you want with the right attitude. It is much wiser to be specific about certain aspects, even to the point where you say the job may not be for everyone due to certain facets of the work! Get creative with your job ads so you attract the right candidates with the most appropriate attitude for your company. By doing this, you may get fewer applications, but if there was ever a time when quality was more important than quantity, this is it!
The hiring process for new employees is a vast subject that obviously could not be dealt with in its entirety in this article; therefore, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly. Good luck with your power hiring.
