Lacking Motivation? Talk to Your Manager.
8 April 2013
Read by 1798 persons
You enjoy your work and are proud to work for your company. Leaving is definitely not on the agenda. However, things could be better. You feel that you lack motivation and that you are doing more and more things reluctantly. It is therefore high time to act before your motivation shrinks!
It would be so simple… It would be enough to change a few small details here and there and to reassign certain responsibilities to remedy the situation. But here’s the thing! How to talk to your manager? And how to avoid conflict?
1. Talk to your manager
The following advice will help you improve the quality of the discussion you will have with your manager. This will be essential if you want to convince him to make structural changes. Avoid short-term solutions, such as entrusting your work to your colleagues or taking charge of the task allocation yourself. This may only be a sticking plaster on a wooden leg and may create even more complicated problems in the long term. If you want to change things, you will therefore have to talk to your manager.
2. Prepare the discussion well
Never go to see your manager when you are angry. This would be the worst approach imaginable: you are overwhelmed by emotion, frustrated, and cannot think clearly. Wait, plan this meeting and prepare for it. You will then know exactly what you will have to say.
3. Express your dissatisfaction and explain the reasons
Have you decided to have this delicate conversation with your manager? In this case, be frank and say what is on your mind. Your boss must absolutely understand your problems. Otherwise, he will naturally not be able to do much to help you.
It is better to prepare a list of scenarios and situations that frustrate you, because there is a good chance that stress and emotion will prevent you from finding a single example when your manager asks you for one. This list will be the ideal way to explain the reasons for your dissatisfaction.
4. Propose feasible solutions
You know perfectly well what you would do if you were in your manager’s place. So much the better! Because you can be sure that he will not fail to ask you the question. So prepare a clear answer, but avoid proposing ideas that you yourself find impossible to implement. Don’t forget either that your manager must not only take you into account. Unfeasible proposals will do anything but give weight to your arguments.
5. Stay positive
There is very little chance that your manager will intervene as you wish immediately after your meeting. This kind of thing will not happen overnight. He will probably have to go higher himself to see if your proposal is indeed feasible. Give him time to act. And while waiting for better days, stay positive.
In conclusion: don’t sit idly by if you feel your motivation is starting to wane. Find the reasons and talk to your manager. This will very certainly allow you to find a solution to your problems together.
Stepstone.be
Posted online on April 8, 2013.
It would be so simple… It would be enough to change a few small details here and there and to reassign certain responsibilities to remedy the situation. But here’s the thing! How to talk to your manager? And how to avoid conflict?
1. Talk to your manager
The following advice will help you improve the quality of the discussion you will have with your manager. This will be essential if you want to convince him to make structural changes. Avoid short-term solutions, such as entrusting your work to your colleagues or taking charge of the task allocation yourself. This may only be a sticking plaster on a wooden leg and may create even more complicated problems in the long term. If you want to change things, you will therefore have to talk to your manager.
2. Prepare the discussion well
Never go to see your manager when you are angry. This would be the worst approach imaginable: you are overwhelmed by emotion, frustrated, and cannot think clearly. Wait, plan this meeting and prepare for it. You will then know exactly what you will have to say.
3. Express your dissatisfaction and explain the reasons
Have you decided to have this delicate conversation with your manager? In this case, be frank and say what is on your mind. Your boss must absolutely understand your problems. Otherwise, he will naturally not be able to do much to help you.
It is better to prepare a list of scenarios and situations that frustrate you, because there is a good chance that stress and emotion will prevent you from finding a single example when your manager asks you for one. This list will be the ideal way to explain the reasons for your dissatisfaction.
4. Propose feasible solutions
You know perfectly well what you would do if you were in your manager’s place. So much the better! Because you can be sure that he will not fail to ask you the question. So prepare a clear answer, but avoid proposing ideas that you yourself find impossible to implement. Don’t forget either that your manager must not only take you into account. Unfeasible proposals will do anything but give weight to your arguments.
5. Stay positive
There is very little chance that your manager will intervene as you wish immediately after your meeting. This kind of thing will not happen overnight. He will probably have to go higher himself to see if your proposal is indeed feasible. Give him time to act. And while waiting for better days, stay positive.
In conclusion: don’t sit idly by if you feel your motivation is starting to wane. Find the reasons and talk to your manager. This will very certainly allow you to find a solution to your problems together.
Stepstone.be
Posted online on April 8, 2013.
