3:42 pm  

positive thinking thought #29

THE FOUR STAGES FROM MOTIVATION TO DEMOTIVATION 1. Motivated Ineffective When is an employee most motivated in the cycle of emplo...

THE FOUR STAGES FROM MOTIVATION TO DEMOTIVATION

1. Motivated Ineffective

When is an employee most motivated in the cycle of employment? When he joins an organization. Why? Because he wants to prove that by hiring him, the employer made the right decision. He is motivated but because he is new to the environment, he does not know what to do. So he is ineffective.

This is the stage when the employee is most open minded, receptive and easy to mold to the culture of the organization. Training and orientation become imperative.

Unprofessional organizations have none or very poor orientation programs. The first day on the job, the supervisor shows the new employee his place of work and tells him what to do and leaves. He teaches all the bad along with the good that he is doing. The new employee quickly learns all the mistakes the supervisor is making because that is what he has been taught. The organization loses the opportunity to mold the individual to the culture of that organization.

Professional organizations, on the other hand, take special care to induct people into their organizations. They explain to them, among other things, the following:

• the hierarchy
• expectations of each other
• do's and donuts
• parameters and guidelines
• what is acceptable and what is not
• what are the resources

How can one expect performance unless expectations are made clear up front? If induction and orientation are done well, many potential problems would not surface at all.

2. Motivated Effective

This is the stage when the employee has learned what to do and does it with drive and energy. He has learned the trade and it reflects in his performance. Then he moves on to the next stage.

3. Demotivated Effective

After some time the motivation level goes down and the employee starts learning the tricks of the trade. This is the stage when the employee is not motivated. He continues doing just enough so that the employer has no reason to fire him but he is really not motivated.

This stage is detrimental to growth--most people in organizations fall into this third stage. A motivated professional learns the trade and leaves the tricks to cheats and crooks, but a demotivated employee starts sabotaging the company. His performance is marginal. He makes fun of the good performers. He rejects new ideas and spreads the negativity all around.

Our objective is to bring them back to the second stage of motivated effective through training. An employee ought not to stay in the third stage too long; because from here either they move back to the second stage, which is being motivated and effective, or they move into the fourth stage.

4. Demotivated Ineffective

At this stage, the employer does not have much choice but to fire the employee, which may be the most appropriate thing to do anyway at this point.

Remember, employers want the same thing as employees do. They want to succeed and improve business and if employees help in this objective, then they make themselves valuable and achieve their own success.

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS 

 Some of the motivators are:

• Unfair criticism
• Negative criticism
• Public humiliation
• Rewarding the non performer which can be demotivating for the performer
• Failure or fear of failure
• Success which leads to complacence
• Lack of direction
• Lack of measurable objectives
• Low self-esteem
• Lack of priorities
• Negative self-talk
• Office politics
• Unfair treatment
• Hypocrisy
• Poor standards
• Frequent change
• Responsibility without authority

A satisfied person is not necessarily a motivated person. Some people are satisfied with very little. In this case, satisfaction may lead to complacence. Motivation comes from excitement and excitement does not come unless there is full commitment.

New methods of motivation will not work till the demotivating factors are removed. Many times, just removing the demotivating factors can spark motivation.

Motivators

What we really want to accomplish is self-motivation, when people do things for their own reasons and not yours. That is lasting motivation.

Remember, the greatest motivator is belief. We have to inculcate in ourselves the belief that we are responsible for our actions and behavior. When people accept res-ponsibility, everything improves: quality, productivity, relationships and teamwork.

A few steps to motivate others:

• Give recognition
• Give respect
• Make work interesting
• Be a good listener
• Throw a challenge
• Help but don't do for others what they should do for themselves

People do things for their own reasons, not yours. This is illustrated by a story about Ralph Waldo Emerson. He and his son once were struggling to get a calf into the barn. Both father and son were exhausted, pulling and pushing. A little girl was passing by and she sweetly put her little finger into the calf's mouth and the calf lovingly followed her to the barn.