How Managers Destroy Employee Motivation
The Impact of 'Zingers' on Employee Motivation
When it comes to employee motivation, one of the most powerful tools managers have is their words. Words can inspire and motivate -- or they can destroy morale and create a negative environment.
Managers with strong leadership skills know how to coach their employees to inspire performance -- with positive words that encourage people to go where they didn’t think they could go, exceed expectations and become highly competitive in this ever changing market place.
In a positive environment in which everyone is working together toward a vision they can believe in, enthusiasm -- and productivity rise dramatically.
If you introduce 'Zingers' (negative words or comments) into this setting, you create a negative undertow. You may still make progress, but now you're working against the tide.
Zingers have a direct impact on the ability of your business to succeed. They make people become unwilling to invest in your vision and they undermine the trust and safety that is such a vital part of your workplace.
Imagine this situation:
An employee comes to work on time every day and does a good job. The employee hasn't talked to his manager in a while, but assumes that if anything were wrong, he'd hear about it. In fact, the manager is quite happy with the employee's work, but he doesn't know how to express this. Maybe the manager is not as comfortable with people as he'd like to be or maybe he is uneasy because he doesn't know this employee very well.
Instead of saying something positive and supportive when passing by the employee's desk, the manager tries to be funny by launching a zinger. "Look at that stack of papers on your desk!" he laughs, "I can't believe you ever find anything."
It's meant as good-natured teasing, but from the employee's point of view, it's the only thing the manager has said to him directly all week. And it's received as criticism: "Your desk is a mess.” Of all the things the manager might have said when he walked past, he chose to say, “You're a slob."
Even if the employee doesn't take it to heart and worry about his job security as a result, the first interaction he's had with his manager is a zinger - and this just doesn't feel good! Managers who interact with their direct reports on the basis of zingers usually have no idea of the repercussions to motivation and morale. Not only have they set up a negative interaction with the person they're zinging, but they've also established themselves as someone to be avoided -- and they've missed an opportunity to say something inspiring.
Here's another scenario:
An employee goes to the coffee room to refresh her coffee. Three other employees are taking their regular 10 minute break in the coffee room at the same time. The manager, Frank, walks in and says, "So, Julie, you're spending the work day on a break again, I see... I hope you're having fun. That's the important thing."
Julie may know Frank doesn't mind her getting coffee. He may have told her minutes earlier that he appreciates all the hard work she's put in this week, so she realizes he's kidding, when he implies she's goofing off.
But the other people in the room don't know that. All they see is a manager who won't cut his employee any slack. She gets up to refresh her coffee and he ridicules her for it. The rule is that a positives statement makes for a high performance employee and teams that produce quality products. A negative statement does the opposite.
Ask yourself: do you get fired up when you get great reviews or do you look forward to someone saying to you "Take a look at this. It's written so simply, even you should be able to understand it." That was a zinger. How would that make you feel?
Learn to coach people forwards towards the desired end results with positive reinforcement. Zingers don’t motivate. They destroy self-esteem. Are you getting the results you want? Or are you blaming others to make yourself feel better about the bad results? Are you zinging the very people you need to have on the success bus?
To learn more about the power of coaching download a free chapter from my book, Power to Change and discover how you can be a positive influence in your work and your personal life.
Learn more about how to motivate employees here.