In my years of running multiple businesses, there’s always a funny and tricky thing that happens eventually – staff getting bored. Trust me when I say this is one of the most frustrating things an employer has to deal with. If any of you are employers, you know this exact problem – where staff start phoning it in, where they haven’t technically quit, but their minds and attitudes have checked out.

I hate it when this happens, as I’m sure you do if you are a leader yourself. However, they aren’t totally to blame. Workplace boredom and understimulation are common and often contagious obstacles.

This is why, as a leader, you need to be responsible for preventing low levels of enthusiasm and stagnation amongst your staff. These problems are fixable, and I’m here to show you three ways you can keep your staff from getting bored.

1. Instill Purpose with Company Goals

I’m sure at some point we’ve all asked the question, “Why am I doing this?” Whether it’s because of studying for a subject that wasn’t your favourite, or being trapped in a friendship or relationship that felt like too much effort. Boredom or jadedness happens because of a lack of purpose, and this is also true for staff.

How can you fix this? By reminding your staff of your company goals and their specific roles in achieving them. I’ve talked about the importance of company goals a lot on this blog, and one of the most important reasons for having company goals is so that each team member understands the vision that they’re working towards and what they need to be doing to get there. When they’re aligned with your company goals, it becomes easier for them to find purpose and see a larger meaning in the things they do.

Yes, true purpose is about showing your clients why your company matters. But it’s also about showing your team that what they’re investing in each day is worth their while. Your employees will be more than willing to commit once they understand the purpose and vision that define your company goals.

2. Raise Your Expectations

In basic physics, we’re taught about the concept of inertia – an object at rest will remain at rest. Without getting too deep into the hard sciences, I believe that there is a lot of truth to that statement in business as well.

Whenever my staff seem to be phoning it in, that’s when I look at myself and question whether I’m raising their level of competitiveness. The truth is, a stimulating environment encourages healthy competition and growth, and a lax environment with low expectations will stop people from challenging themselves.

I’m going to be honest – this has happened to me too. There have been many times when I thought something was too easy, and that’s why I ended up doing just the bare minimum of what was asked of me. However, once I put myself into bigger business opportunities and more competitive environments, I realised the importance of raising expectations.

Don’t be afraid to raise your staff’s expectations because familiarity breeds mediocrity. Your staff need to understand that in a company, there are certain expectations they need to meet, and they need to know what excellence looks like and that they’re capable of it too. As long as you’re clear, concise, and not unnecessarily mean, your employees will thank you for it.

3. Be a Good Example

It’s one of the oldest morals in the book – do unto others what you want to be done unto you. But it’s a cliché for a reason. I’ve found that the moments my staff checked out mentally coincided with the moments I did the same.

The times that I delayed my meetings or got complacent with follow-ups and assessments? Those were the times I also felt my staff were failing me. Even though, in reality, I was also failing them.

There’s no motivation in seeing someone who doesn’t like their job, or seeing someone who’s lazy and takes the easy way out. This is why I always strive to show my staff what good leadership can look like – that I always make sure to answer emails on time, show up to work early and that I greet everyone I meet with a smile.

If you’re having problems with how your staff are acting, maybe it’s time to look inwards. It could just be the answer to the problem that lies outwards.

To your success,

Mario

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