What Motivates Your Employees, and How Should You Manage Them?
In a fast-paced business environment, there is often an expectation that employees should want to advance their careers. Managers invest significant resources in people development, aiming to nurture their employees and reward high performers. However, it is incorrect to assume that everyone wants to climb the career ladder as quickly as possible. Many competent and skilled employees simply have no desire to change their job roles. For instance, a recent parent or student may have other priorities that prevent them from focusing solely on their careers. This doesn’t mean they don’t want to progress at all. For managers, these team members represent a specific challenge: employees who aren’t demonstrating a desire to progress can be overlooked. So, how should managers effectively manage these employees?
Understanding What Really Drives People
Empathizing with and understanding this group is a critical part of managing their development. Effective development plans can be devised for employees with other ambitions that account for work/life pressures. Managers can work with them rather than against them. Assuming that ‘one size fits all’ is a big mistake when it comes to personal and professional development.
Matching the Reward to the Need
These employees may not be motivated by the same things as others. They may not be dependent on their income or may simply lack self-confidence. Managers must understand these motivational factors and adapt their style accordingly. For example, students can be motivated by development opportunities aligned with their chosen study path. A development plan can equip them with skills and experience that complement their studies, and in some cases, their studies can complement their existing roles.
Open and Honest Communication
Communication is vital when managing any employee, but those seemingly unmotivated to progress their careers need a very open and honest channel of communication at all times. These employees can often feel isolated and ostracized from the rest of the team. Reassure them that this is not the case and demonstrate how they can still thrive within your team. Ensure they are excited to work for you and that you are excited to work with them.
Adapting Management Style
The same management style will not work with all employees. Consciously or unconsciously, managers may adopt the same stance with all their employees. However, it is important to step away from this. One of the big challenges of people management is learning to work with different people in different ways. Employees with non-career-oriented motivations often require a very specific coaching and management style.
Management is often a challenging task but can also be extremely rewarding. Managers shouldn’t assume they can manage everyone in the same way. Working with employees of different levels and types of ambition is a great way to grow a more adaptive style in the workplace.
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