Understanding motivators helps staff out of a rut

We all know that there’s a strong correlation between motivation and performance.  Recently a leader I was coaching had identified issues with a member of their team, and was trying to find them a role within the organisation that they would enjoy.

The employee had probably been in role for a couple of years longer than was healthy, so by now was very demotivated – the results being variable performance, and consistent mistakes.

The root of the problem was identified when we looked at their motivation profile.  They loved doing new things and solving customer problems, but their role just didn’t lend itself to this.  We discussed the risk of them leaving, but they insisted they wanted to stay at the company, in a different role.

New and exciting roles don’t come along every day, so the action plan here was to really focus on getting the mundane things completed quickly and accurately, to free up time to work on more creative areas.  As well as fulfilling the need for innovation, this approach is far more likely to lead to a new role, as the employee will be getting noticed for the right reasons.

So if you think you can’t get your staff out of a rut, think again.