The Top 4 Doubts Employees have that Bosses Need to Uproot

All successful people know that Motivation is the secret for success. It doesn't matter whether you are a budding entrepreneur or an established business person! All you need is the perfect motivation at right time from the right people to move ahead.

Due to the 75 anniversary of Beneficial Management Corporation of America, NJ; the company wished for a significant increase in sales. To obtain the extra competitive edge they needed, the management attempted to motivate their branch associates, regional supervisors, and branch managers by announcing merchandise incentives. Not only did the firm observe a 31% increase in their sales during that year but it also managed to get 98% of its employees to enroll to an additional prize campaign apart from several winning their choice of upscale merchandise.

This is the power that motivation has to achieve business goals! Naturally, as managerial level people, we have all focused or read up on how to motivate our employees in order to prevent them from resigning or skipping out on the crucial days of deliveries just because of their low self-esteem. However, there is one question to we need to ask ourselves – are our efforts really helping our employees boost theirself-confidence?

In most cases, there will be a certain extent of a gap between the goal of your motivation strategy and the results that come from it. However, the reality is that this gap often goes unnoticed due to the belief that one’s own motivation strategy is comprehensively versatile. Let’s say that your motivation strategy is to behave in a friendly manner with your employees in order to make them comfortable with you and keep them away from the belief that you have a bossy attitude.

Although this might drastically help achieve these goals, there is the chance that it might not significantly remove other self-esteem reducing factors they might have, such as their own doubts. Doubts are a hard issue to deal with so even your friendly approach might not be able to dissolve them. According to Brent Gleeson, the Chief Marketing Officer at E-ways Internet Marketing Inc., "People will not come to work motivated daily, so you have to do different things because everybody responds to different motivators."

In reality, most doubts lead to fear. In many occasions, employees cannot manage to get a solution to dissolve them by themselves. One of the main reasons for experiencing fear from these unsolved doubts is the inability to communicate them with the senior professional member in the team. A majority of these doubts are about performance or contribution, but employees often feel insecure to address these issues so they end up keeping them to themselves. This problem is amplified by the absence of regular feedback.

In the hectic world of business, offering as well as sustaining an environment of clear, complete, concise, and timely communication is not as easy as it seems. However, this communication is essential to know what drives people at work. When the feedback-giving process stops between you and your employees, doubts surely arise. This can shatter the self-esteem of your employees, rendering your motivation strategies futile. Let us check out what some of the doubts that commonly arise in the mind of all employees are, so that you can take instant measures to resolve them!

Am I positively adding to the work output and professional environment?

This doubt arises often when there is an absence of feedback, and it worsens every time employees have to redo their work, receive negative feedback from clients, and when there are ongoing team issues in the working environment. In case there are more negative than positive cases, the employee is more likely going to feel upset and he or she might start looking for a new job offer.

Therefore, it is extremely important to reward the current contribution of your employees. Also, share specific examples of how the company values employee's contribution, and give suggestions to improve in case the employee’s contribution is not up to the mark.

Are my talents, skills, or effort valuable or effective enough to give the desired output?

This is a common doubt that holds when there is no feedback from any side, either the client or the internal team. It also arises when there are no promotions or appraisals done in months. Therefore, it is better to discuss the skills each employee has, how their skills are required for a successful business, and what else they can do to add to their talent or knowledge during their free time.

In order to achieve this, why not try something similar to this? Through a contest at Bridgeport with the theme of ‘What Makes Us Good,’ Remington Products Inc. successfully strengthened the product knowledge of their employees, which helped increase sales. Moreover, the winner was rewarded with a trip to Mexico, boosting the employee’s morale.

Remember, just as you make sure that your family members feel that their presence is always appreciated and that they are all there for each other, you need to do the same for your employees. After all, your team is what makes your office a home too, isn't it?

Do I have a fault or inability that can badly affect my growth in the company?

When an employee feels that there is some kind of inability or weakness within him or her and you, the senior, somehow fail to notice it, the employee can react in a negative way. He or she might think that you will silently ask them to leave the company, which can make him or her eventually do so voluntarily.

Therefore, it is important to do a SWOT analysis with your employees and discuss them with them in person (one at a time, of course). However, don’t stop here; instead work with them to plan ahead on how to keep track of their improvement on the ‘S’, grasp the power for ‘O’ and resist the power of ‘W and T.’

Should I work from the office branch nearest to my home?

This is actually not only a doubt for employees but also a big firm obstacle that the employers themselves are not ready to remove. When your employee has loyally served you until now and is efficient enough to handle diverse tasks, why not give them the flexibility to work at the most convenient place for them, with the most favorable work schedule?

In case you have any kind of doubt or are looking upon it hesitantly, consider giving the permission to do so for a short period. This will help you to judge the employee during that period, which will tell you whether you should grant that permission permanently or not.

So, now can you throw these doubts out forever? Please share your insights in the comment tab, or Share it :)