A person’s quality of motivation is greatly influenced by his/her current emotional state. This doesn’t discount the cognitive processing that is required for goal-directed action. In fact, this cognitive processing is what often produces a perception that creates a highly emotional response that either hinders or supports action.
I have observed 7 emotional responses that produce amotivation — the term that means no motivation — or what we often refer to as “demotivation”, the street term that describes a person’s loss of positive motivation or increase in motivation to work against a specified direction (e.g., the goal set for an employees by the supervisor or company). Managers who seek to motivate employees must create relationships and environments that guide people away from the following seven feelings.
1. Underpaid – Feeling unfairly paid.
2. Disrespected – Feeling disregarded or being treated with contempt
3. Untrusted – Feeling micromanaged
4. Over-worked – Feeling expectations are beyond what’s achievable or disrupts work/life balance
5. Underutilized – Feeling misused or that stengths don’t matter
6. Insignificant – Feeling no connection with organizational mission or a greater good
7. Stuck – Feeling hopeless for career advancement
What feelings or emotions have you witnessed or experienced that resulted in employee demotivation?