What do you do if your employees lack motivation and engagement?

1 Express empathy

The first step to motivate and engage your employees is to show them that you understand and care about their perspective. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and communicate that understanding. It's not about agreeing or disagreeing, but about listening and reflecting. To express empathy, you need to use open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries - the core skills of motivational interviewing that help you elicit and reinforce your employees' own reasons for change. For instance, you can inquire about the benefits of achieving a goal, how they feel about their current situation, any challenges that may be preventing progress, and how confident they are that they can overcome them.

2 Develop discrepancy

The second step to motivate and engage your employees is to help them see the gap between their current behavior and their desired outcome, which is known as developing discrepancy. This tension, created when someone realizes that their actions are not aligned with their values or goals, can be a powerful motivator for change. To develop this discrepancy, you should use reflective listening, feedback, and decisional balance - strategies of motivational interviewing that help you highlight and amplify your employees' own awareness of the pros and cons of change. For instance, you could ask: "It sounds like you want to improve your skills, but you don't have enough time to practice. How do you think your current performance affects your career goals? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of staying the same or changing?"

3 Roll with resistance

The third step to motivate and engage your employees is to avoid arguing or confronting them when they express doubt or reluctance about change. This is called rolling with resistance, which is a natural and normal reaction to change. Instead of viewing it as a problem to be solved, it's an opportunity to be explored. To roll with resistance, you should use reflective listening, reframing, and shifting focus - the techniques of motivational interviewing that help you acknowledge and accept your employees' resistance without judging or persuading them. For instance, you can say something like: "I understand that you are uncertain if this goal is realistic or achievable for you. Perhaps there is another perspective we can take on this situation that might make it more desirable or manageable for you. Or maybe we can discuss something else that is more important or pertinent for you right now."

4 Support self-efficacy

The fourth and final step to motivate and engage your employees is to encourage and empower them to take action and responsibility for their own change. This is called supporting self-efficacy, which is the belief that one can succeed in a specific task or situation. It’s a crucial factor for change, but not something that can be given or taken away. To support self-efficacy, you need to use affirmations, confidence scales, and action plans. These are the tools of motivational interviewing that help to boost and reinforce your employees' confidence and commitment to change. For example, you could say something like "You have done a great job so far in identifying and overcoming some of the obstacles that you faced" or ask them to rate their confidence on a scale of 1 to 10 for achieving their goal. You can also inquire about the steps they will take to make it happen. Motivational interviewing is an effective technique that can help explore and resolve ambivalence about change, while also supporting employees to take action and responsibility for their own goals. It’s a collaborative, goal-oriented, respectful method of communication that can strengthen relationships and improve results.