Management: 4 Sure-fire Ways to De-Motivate

As a manager you probably know the importance of keeping your team motivated.  Motivation is essentially about moving others in the direction you want them to go.  Trouble is there are certain sure-fire ways to de-motivate others.

Not recognising others contributions

Have you ever had a time when there was a major deadline to be achieved?  Chances are you worked really hard to achieve it and probably made some personal sacrifices along the way.  Imagine you did all of this and did not even get a thank you from your boss.  I am guessing that you might have felt pretty de-motivated.  Not recognising the contribution and effort of others is the number one sure-fire way to de-motivate them.

Being indecisive

When you are appointed as a manager, others look to you to provide direction and make decisions.  Your team might not always agree with every decision that you make and you might get some decisions wrong.  At the end of the day, people will generally be more motivated if you take decisions.  Why? Simply because decision leads to action and action leads to results.

Not pulling your weight

Your team know that you are in charge and at the same time will expect you to be pulling your weight and making a real contribution.  They will want to see that you are working just as hard as everyone else to get results. 

Not taking responsibility

Your job as a manager is to get results.  Sometimes you will achieve success and other times you will fail to get the result you set out to get.  Most managers are happy to take the praise when things are going well.  It is equally vital that you stand up and take responsibility when things do not go so well.

Bottom line- De-motivated staff will not deliver great results.  So what can you do to improve motivation?