Each member of your staff is motivated differently. Some may be encouraged by monetary gains, others by knowledge, and others by community service. Your job as a leader is to find out what specifically motivates each member of your team and ensure that those needs are met.

We all know that. But what if in the pursuit of meeting those needs, we are actually doing more harm than good? What if some of our actions are actually causing our employees to become disengaged rather than gung-ho?

If you want to make sure that you’re building a positive work environment for your employees instead of pushing them away, then rid your office of these motivation killers.

  1. Gossip City

In the MSP environment, most of us have grown our businesses with the same staff over the years. The startup mentality and close quarters, often make us feel like our staff is more like friends than actual employees. But the danger of this is that the workplace can easily turn into a giant hang-out. You might find yourself developing favorite employees that seem more like your BFFs, discussing who Suzy in Accounting is dating, complaining how Tim in service seems incompetent, and talking about how happy you are that Liza is gone.  This is a dangerous habit that is not only uncomfortable for your employees, but also places you in a position where objective leadership is compromised.

  1. Lack of Professional Development

It is rare that an employee will be content staying in their same position with no opportunity for growth and learning. Employees are people. They aren’t just slaves to the machine; they need to know that you have a vested interest in allowing them to grow in their success. By doing this, we can ensure that the workplace does not become static and anchored to outdated business practices or procedures.

  1. Poor Communication

One of the most important things to remember is that in the workplace, communication is everything. People are not mind-readers, (though, we’re not talking about fortune tellers), they need to be told exactly what it is that you expect of them. When there is poor communication, people waste time second guessing themselves, overlooking important details, or redundantly doing the same work on the same project, resulting in a loss of productivity. The clearer the flow of communication, the easier it is to keep your staff on task and happy.

Do you see any of these killers in your workplace? If so, it’s time that you do something to put these killers in the slammer and develop a solution to build a better work environment. Your most valuable employees won’t stay long if you have a bad business.