Why do employees feel disengaged? Experts will list many factors: poor management and direction, the lack of challenging work, poor job fit, or even poor internal communication. These reasons may be caused by different parties: the manager, co-workers, the working environment, or perhaps even the employees themselves. What do these reasons have in common?
If we dig deep into the underlying reasons, these can all be explained by the self-determination theory. The theory explains how people are motivated—what they need to have to be intrinsically motivated. People need to feel competent, to have a choice and control over that choice, and to feel that they belong.
In this three-part series, I explore the various reasons why employees feel disengaged. I will categorise them into three reasons:
Firstly, they don’t feel that they can succeed.
Secondly, they feel that their potential is wasted.
Thirdly, they feel isolated.
For this second part of a three-part series, I explore why employees feel that their potential is wasted and what business owners and managers can do to address this need.
The self-determination theory states that people need these three needs to be satisfied to be intrinsically motivated: competence, autonomy, and belongingness. In the previous video, I explored how team members who don’t feel competent and lack what they need to succeed can feel disengaged.
Let’s talk about our need for autonomy. Autonomy means having a choice and having control over the choice. It’s connected to competence. We want people to recognise that we can do our jobs. Part of that means providing us with the freedom to choose how to do to the work.
Team members become disengaged when they feel that they are micromanaged. A study shows that micromanagement leads to poorer work outcomes. It gives the impression that you don’t trust the person to do the job.
When you micromanage people, they are unlikely to display their strengths. Instead, they focus on following your instructions to the letter. They are not encouraged to experiment or find better work methods.
From a leadership perspective, micromanagement distracts you, the manager, and the team member. You focus too much on the little details, which removes your focus on what matters, such as leading your organisation towards your goals. Your employees focus too much on your instruction instead of achieving the task’s goals. And when the task fails, who do you blame? You will be unhappy; the team members will be unhappy. No one is happy. There’s little motivation to do better.
What should you do? Instead of telling your employees what to do, empower them instead. Give them the goal and allow them to do what you hired them to do. Allow them to choose what to do, how, and where and when it gets done. Your role should be to provide what they need to succeed and to provide them with guidance and direction when they ask for your help.
Micromanagement leads to disengagement and poor work outcomes. Our role as managers and leaders is to allow our team members to do the job they were hired for, demonstrate their strengths, and work towards goals. In doing so, we address their need for autonomy, which allows them to be motivated and engaged in work.
How are you addressing your team’s need for autonomy? Send me an email and let me know what you do about it.
In the next and last video of the series, I will discuss why your team feels disengaged when they don’t feel that they belong—and what to do about it.
