In The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Patrick Lencioni discusses the major demotivators that hurt morale and corrode a company's productivity. Here he discusses each sign and what kind of motivators can turn it around.
Anonymity
The Problem: "Human beings have a need to be known. If you don't feel like the person you work for knows what's going on in your life…If you don't feel that person you're toiling for every day cares about you as a person, you really don't find fulfillment in going to work."
The Incentive Solution: "Incentive programs can be so powerful if they are combined with genuine appreciation and a real knowledge of who you are appreciating... When a manager says, 'I was thinking about you and I thought you would like this,' it's huge."
Irrelevance
The Problem: "Everybody needs to know that their work matters and that other people's lives would be [affected] if they weren't doing their job."
The Incentive Solution: "Show the person how his or her work directly improves the lives of the customers. Appeal to people in a very human way…[Don't] be afraid that it will come across as disingenuous."
Immeasurement
The Problem: Lack of clear goals or ways for employees to measure their performance. "If your only measure of success is whether your boss likes you, you feel very out of control. You almost feel like a slave to that person and the mood they are in that day. Employees should have a sense of their ability to influence their own career."
The Incentive Solution: "The reason salespeople often like their jobs is not because they're 'coin-operated,' but because they get immediate feedback about how they are doing…When you can give a person something very real and specific for something they've done, that's a powerful thing."
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