Mentoring Tips: How to Help Discouraged Employees

Spread the love

When people do not have the means to walk away from a frustrating job, this can not only impact their health but also show up in team collaboration and overall workplace effectiveness. Here are a few ways you can help a discouraged employee.

Isolate the Nature of Their Frustration

Sometimes all a discouraged employee needs is someone to vent to who can give them a little constructive feedback. Often the only problem with such employees is that they are inexperienced when it comes to troubleshooting their own problems at work. By helping them to isolate the root causes behind their work-related frustrations, this exercise will often help them figure out some way to more efficiently cope with their employment situation.

Take Action

Another major cause of work-related discouragement arises from a failure to take decisive action. Often this arises when there is one part of the job where an employee does not know how to complete something required in their daily work routine. Failure to follow through can even create conflict with a superior. The fear of messing up can further compound their discouragement. By helping the discouraged employee to develop a plan of taking decisive action to overcome the obstacle in their daily routine, you will help them to empower themselves to be able to tackle the obstacles that stand between themselves and having an easier time making it through the work day.

Poor Team Skills

You might be heading up the new team for the big project at work and find that one of your team members just cannot seem to get their act together. No matter how much you think you are helping them cope, the more frustrated and discouraged they become towards you. In these situations, it would help to possess the leadership skills to truly know how to properly motivate such an employee to take off in the right direction. By obtaining an online master’s in leadership, you will obtain the skills to better handle this type of conflict involving members of your team.

Try Something New

The discouragement many employees experience is due to simple burn out. They cannot motivate themselves to do their job well, because they are sick and tired of doing the same old boring job. Sometimes the best advice you can give such an employee is the encouragement to try something new. If they are unhappy in the job for too long, they will stop giving their best. This type of employee may need to switch jobs to get some variety in their life. Alternatively, if they do not feel challenged anymore, it may be good to suggest that they look into going into business for themselves.

Wrapping It Up

Discouraged employees exist in nearly every workplace. As employees begin to feel inadequate, unchallenged and even beaten up by their job, repeating this cycle of frustration does little to improve their spirits. Change, though it may be hard for employees and their employers to accept, is perhaps one of the best ways to bring encouragement and hope back into an employee’s life.

Bio
Latest Posts

Tresha Moreland

Tresha Moreland is a 30-year organizational effectiveness and strategic workforce planning expert. She partners with business leaders to develop workplace strategies that achieve best-in-class results. She has held key organizational leadership roles in multiple industries such as manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality, and healthcare. Tresha is the founder and principal consultant of HR C-Suite, LLC (www.hrcsuite.com). HR C-Suite is a results-based HR strategy resource dedicated to connecting HR with business results. She has received a master’s degree in human resource management (MS) and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA). She has also earned a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Six Sigma Black Belt Professional (SSBBP) Certification. She is also recognized as a Fellow with the American College Healthcare Executives with a FACHE designation.