How to unmotivate

Recall your worst day at work, when events of the day left you frustrated, unmotivated by the job, and brimming with disdain for your boss and your organization. That day is probably unforgettable. But do you know exactly how your boss was able to make it so horrible for you? This article will provide you insight into the precise levers you can use to re-create that sort of memorable experience for your own underlings.

The key factor you can use to make employees miserable on the job is to simply keep them from making progress in meaningful work.

People want to make a valuable contribution, and feel great when they make progress toward doing so. Knowing this progress principle is the first step to knowing how to destroy an employee’s work life. Many leaders, from team managers to CEOs, are already surprisingly expert at smothering employee engagement. In fact, on one-third of the time, employees are either unhappy at work, demotivated by the work, or both.

Step 1: Never allow pride of accomplishment.
When analyzing the events occurring on people’s very worst days at the office, one thing stands out: setbacks. Setbacks are any instances where employees feel stalled in their most important work or unable to make any meaningful contribution. So, at every turn, stymie employees’ desire to make a difference. An example is a head of product development, who routinely moves people on and off projects like chess pieces in a game for which only he has the rules.

The next step follows organically from the first.

Step 2: Miss no opportunity to block progress on employees’ projects.
Every day, you’ll see dozens of ways to inhibit substantial forward movement on your subordinates’ most important efforts. Goal-setting is a great place to start. Give conflicting goals, change them as frequently as possible, and allow people no autonomy in meeting them. If you get this formula just right, the destructive effects on motivation and performance can be truly dramatic.

Step 3: Give yourself some credit.
You’re probably already doing many of these things, and don’t even realize it. That’s okay. In fact, unawareness is one of the trademarks of managers who are most effective at destroying employees’ work lives. They generally think their employees are doing just fine – or that “bad morale” is due to the employees’ unfortunate personalities or poor work ethics. Rarely will they give themselves credit for how much their own words and actions make it impossible for people to get a sense of accomplishment. You may be better at this than you think!

Step 4: Kill the messengers.
Finally, if you do get wind of problems in the trenches, deny, deny, deny. And if possible, strike back. Here’s a great example. In an open Q&A with one company’s chief operating officer, an employee asked about the morale problem and got this answer: “There is no morale problem in this company. And, for anybody who thinks there is, we have a nice big bus waiting outside to take you wherever you want to look for work.”

A good quote to keep in your back pocket.




Source: Washington Post