The Art of Killing Motivation
The Art of Killing Motivation While Pretending to Foster It
So, you want to kill motivation and creativity in your organization, under the pretense that you need motivation and creativity? Look no further, here's a not so recommendable guide on how to achieve that goal.
1. Force culture on your employees, always make them aware that this work environment is great and healthy.
Bonus if you tell them that they can only speak nicely about the company.
2. Broken communication is important, it ensures that everyone is confused, and no one knows which direction things are going, it is sure to lead to burn-out and frustration.
3. Emergency culture, everything is an emergency and must be completed EOD. There's nothing like creating daily stress around oneself.
Bonus if you later tell the employee that the work they did wasn't needed anyway.
4. Take praise for other people's work, this one is sure to drop motivation to an all-time low.
5. Change your directions on tasks, preferably weekly or even daily.
6. Arrange creativity meetings — these meetings are for forcing creative ideas.
7. Unclear organizational structure and chains of command, with this structure people will never get answers to their questions.
Bonus: Call your company a dynamic and self-directed team with low hierarchies.
This guide is fictional, but it is sadly all too real for many people in the corporate world. Both creativity and community are values that you cannot plan or strategically enforce, they are built by leading, by example, supporting and trusting your team.
Creativity, motivation and a positive community-based work environment grow from more abstract and free environments where the value is not in how fast you can do it but how well you can do it.
The good news is that motivation and creativity don't vanish forever. They grow back in places where trust, clarity, and respect are nurtured. If you're leading people, start small: give clear direction and space to explore; celebrate wins loudly and share credit generously and make experiments safe, not scary.
And if you find yourself working in one of those environments, remember that your imagination is still yours. Protect it by setting healthy limits, looking for allies who share your values, and carving out time for work that excites you.
About the Author
Mona Elo is a researcher and project communicator, working in international Maritime projects.