How to Avoid the Top 5 Pitfalls Demotivating Your Employees Right Now

Based on a recent Adweek Intelligence survey, managers tend to overestimate how engaged their teams are and mistakenly think the number one factor in motivating employees is their own leadership. The inverse is actually true. When you put employees in the driver’s seat and empower independent decision-making, provide flexibility, and give them the ability to work on things they are passionate about, motivation rises. However, when looking at what demotivates employees the most, poor leadership rises to the top as the No. #1 culprit, followed by lack of professional growth and low workplace recognition. These demotivational pitfalls can be immediate and severe; if you inadvertently make a misstep as a manager, you can undo all your hard work and time that you’ve spent to engage your team. To better understand how to avoid these demotivational pitfalls, we’ve broken down our top five insights that we uncovered after surveying 250+ U.S. marketing professionals. Full findings from the survey can be found here. Pitfall #1: Assuming Demotivation is Out of Your Control As a Leader There is no doubt that the pandemic has added external challenges including working from home and navigating through days and weeks that seemingly run together. Issues have varied depending on life circumstances. While parents are dealing with childcare and homeschooling, other family members may be struggling with isolation or illness. Surprisingly, however, employees did not cite working from home and work/life balance issues as the top reasons for feeling demotivated. Instead, internal factors that managers can directly control including poor leadership and lack of growth accounted for over 60% of employee responses. One senior agency leader said they were demotivated “because I have a poor manager who has not been supportive or expressed interest in my ambitions or growth.” As a manager, the key way to avoid stumbling into this pitfall is to shift focus to the elements you can control: how you show up, lead your team and create a path for your team to succeed. Pitfall #2: Failing to Recognize Your Own Leadership as a Culprit Poor leadership was cited by employees as the #1 reason for feeling less motivated. One senior level respondent said: “I have a new boss who doesn't listen to me. She is simply waiting for her opportunity to speak.” As managers, it’s important to empower our employees and make sure they feel valued and entrusted to do their jobs in a supportive environment. As Jenifer Dasho, Chief Marketing Officer of Austin-based DTC health company Everly Health, mentioned at Adweek Challenger Brands, “You need to make sure that you are creating environments where you're taking care of you and your people early and often so that even in these times of accelerated change, you’re showing up for employees and being there for them when they need it.” Pitfall #3: Dropping the Ball on Your Employee’s Personal Wellbeing One of our most surprising findings is that good leadership is actually not as complicated as one may think. Employees reported that a supportive and encouraging leader goes a long way toward building perception that your manager is going above and beyond for you. Frequently checking in and adjusting workload or offering extra days off were appreciated by all respondents. One agency supervisor noted that “Every month our managers have us take one day off to recharge, which has been crucial to my mental health.” A Brand Director noted, “My manager is a kind person who understands the importance of work/life balance and that a teammate's emotional wellbeing is essential to productivity and results.” As a manager, don’t skip the personal 1:1 check-ins with your team members; they are pivotal in helping them navigate work/life balance issues. Pitfall #4: Falling Short on A Clear Growth Path Employees want to make sure that their manager, and the company they work for, are invested in their professional growth. If they don’t feel they have a career path at the company, they will disengage and feel demotivated. A Brand Director said, “I feel stuck–like I'm not progressing, like there aren't opportunities for growth.” As a manager, it is pivotal to have regular conversations with your employees about their professional development. Do not shy away from having growth conversations even if you are worried about your employee pushing for an immediate promotion or raise. When looking at top motivators for employees, promotions and raises actually ranked #5, behind empowerment and passion for the work. Use your 1:1 conversations to discuss their professional development and help them better understand how their work contributes to the company’s business goals. Together, develop a career map to better understand where the opportunities lie and what to work on to get there. Good managers recognize their employees’ superpowers and look out for the long term of an employees’ career, even beyond their current role or company. By signaling that you are invested in them, this will in turn increase engagement. Your recruiting costs will decrease as employees will become more committed to staying at the company longer term. You’ll likely need alignment with company leadership and HR for support in developing a clear path; a business case may be required to achieve buy-in. For employees, be proactive and schedule these conversations if you aren’t hearing from your boss about your growth. Share your personal goals, your passion points, and your concerns. Tell your manager where they can better support you. Pitfall #5: Forgetting to Celebrate Wins and Taking Time for Recognition Given the stressors of the past year, taking the time to recognize employees for a job well done is even more critical. According to an Agency Supervisor, “Sometimes validation is needed. Of course, we're all just doing our jobs day in and day out… but it’s just nice to hear ‘hey, you're doing a great job’ once in a while.” Recognize your employees with increased frequency and across many different forums including email shout-outs, all company meetings, 1:1 conversations, and team huddles, etc. This is especially important for teams who are working long hours and going above and beyond. For employees, even if you don’t have a direct report, take the time to thank a peer, team member, or manager when the opportunity arises. For example, at Rufus, Initiative's dedicated Amazon media agency, there are the Rad Awards which can be given by anyone on the team and posted to the company’s all employee Teams channel. Employees often say, “Wow that made my day” when they get one. Avoiding demotivational pitfalls is just as important as focusing on what motivates your employees. According to Jenifer Dasho, “They say for every single negative interaction you have with someone, you need five to seven good interactions to cancel that one negative out.” Strike a balance by building deep connections with your team, rooted in trust, support, and empowerment. Motivating Teams is Not a One Size Fits All Approach

Leadership & Talent

How to Avoid the Top 5 Pitfalls Demotivating Your Employees Right Now

Despite what many leaders think, work from home issues are not your team’s biggest concerns

Ashley Buxton

Kenna Ranson

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Ashley Buxton

Kenna Ranson