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The name of this blog comes from our mission at INFLUENCE: “To empower people with clarity and confidence.”

Our objective is to provide brief but meaningful topics (under 500 words) that inspire, educate and empower leaders through resources both inside and outside of INFLUENCE.  This week’s edition is provided by David Salmons.


 

When it comes to employee motivation, many experts point to self-determination and studies that show employees engage best in environments where they can demonstrate autonomy, competence, and relatedness (a sense of purpose).

Still, even when work cultures acknowledge these needs, employee motivation can tank when stress levels rise, which leads to two very important stress related points:

  • Not all stress is created equal.
  • Leaders contribute to the kinds and amounts of workplace stress.

This is worth exploring because employees are more apt to stay when they’re engaged and challenged, and more apt to go when they feel overwhelmed or unsupported.

How do we unpack this?  Studies for decades have shown that workplace stressors have different natures and effects.  Some experts describe these stressors in two broad categories: challenges and hindrances.

Whereas a challenging stress might involve learning experiences that support increased responsibility, a hindering stress could involve chronically insufficient resources, lack of objective clarity, bureaucracy, or any of the myriad shades of what’s commonly called “office politics.”

The difference between these stressors is primarily that employees, when provided sufficient autonomy, can be motivated to achieve through challenging stressors because their personal sense of competence and purpose is engaged.

Hindering stress, on the other hand, typically cannot be resolved by employees because hindering stressors are a product of:

  • factors external to the organization, OR
  • the action/inaction of organizational leaders.

What can you do as a leader?  Recognize that while stressors and solutions will vary widely, studies identify one central theme as paramount for ongoing employee engagement: progress.  Even as employees need a sense of progress in facing personal challenges, they also need to see organizational leaders gaining practical ground on hindrances.

It’s worth mentioning here that organizational “progress” cannot consist of empty promises.  For example, an acquaintance recently shared how he left his organization because, while organizational leaders acknowledged a serious resource allocation hindrance, they had for 3 years promised that adjustments were “in the works”.  With no evidence of progress, he was motivated to move on.

In summary, researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer produced the following suggestions for leaders facing workplace hindrances:

  1. Take the lead in establishing a positive workplace culture.
  2. Clarify/reclarify goals.
  3. Get feedback, then target hindrances and work towards their removal.
  4. Create benchmarks and milestones. Share progress, not just final outcomes.
  5. Be a resource instead of a micromanager.

Perhaps the simplest takeaway here is the need for leaders to both provide clear goals and progress reports.  Studies show that when this strategy is applied to organizational goals as well as hindrances, both employee motivation and organizational performance will benefit.

 

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