How to Deal with Unmotivated Employees

Approximately 70% of American employees are disengaged at work, according to Gallup’s research on the state of the U.S. workforce.

I hate to admit it, but looking back over my career, I remember times when I was a lazy employee. Sure, I showed up for work each day and sat at my computer, but I certainly wasn’t contributing 100%.

Other times, I was totally focused, inspired, and enthusiastically engaged—and perhaps not surprisingly, the high points corresponded with the few outstanding managers I had.

Some managers make high productivity effortless. Others make even average productivity a chore.

If you’re frustrated with lazy employees, ask yourself: Who is actually being lazy?

It’s easy to abdicate responsibility for performance responsibility. What’s much more challenging is dedicating significant time to each employee in order to help them perform at their best. For some leaders, this is instinctive; developing each employee comes naturally. but for most leaders, it’s not.

So where do you start? Here are three suggestions:

Change your focus. Most business owners and managers focus on getting work done through their employees. But that’s only a small part of success. Instead, focus on developing your people. Just that one subtle change in focus can make all the difference.

Invest part of each day in thinking about the development of every employee. Continuous focus will help you develop a team of motivated, inspired team members.

Clarify expectations. Most bosses are confident that their staff understands what’s expected of them. But when Gallup asked them about the accuracy of the statement “I know what’s expected of me at work,” only about half of employees strongly agreed.

Clarifying expectations is not just about telling people what to do. It’s an ongoing process of setting and agreeing, helping team members make sense of what they are doing and why, and then holding them accountable for results.

Help each team member see what success looks like. Be curious about what they love doing, what they hate doing, what they are good at and what’s hard for them. How can you help them craft their jobs so they’re designed for personal success?

The key to success in any organization is developing a world-class team. That’s your role—one person at a time.

Keith Baldwin is a strengths-based performance coach who produces measurable performance and engagement results for entrepreneurs, teams and individuals.