How do you motivate team members who are burned out, or bored?

there is different reasons for that and a different solution I have listed most of the common reasons and how to work around them

 

1. Working on the similar task for a very long period

• ·Reassign task
• ·Assign challenging task
• ·Assign responsibility to handle a small team along with the task assigned.
• ·Motivate: Explain the team member, his importance and contribution to the project and why the company is dependent so much on him for this task.
• ·  Ask to take a break.

2. Some team members are interested in working on innovative/inventive projects

• · This kind of team members are self-motivated and are very important for the organization for upgrading the technology/domain skills and for product improvement.
• · Along with the assigned task, allot sometime in the project plan (when there is an enough buffer in the project plan)for these kind of team members to come up with new ideas and to explore new technologies/solutions.
• · Allow to attend/conduct seminars or training sessions.

3. Not given higher responsibility.

• · Depending upon the skills and experience, motivate and elevate the team member to next positions.
• · E.g.  A experienced programmer wants to get involved in System Analysis and Design, assign responsibility of System analyst.

4. Work can be done faster if provided with appropriate or automate tools.

• · The ER, DFD, flow chart diagrams can draw quickly using drawing tools instead of using open office.
• · Use automates testing tools, if repeated test cases are to be tested for a certain period.

5. Proper process is not in place

• · The developer has passed the task for testing without unit test.
• · No proper documentation available: Requirement specification, Functional document, Design, Acceptance test plans.
• · Have good process & policies and put into practice.

6. Goals are not set

• · Talk to team member and check their goals. Assign if similar opportunities are available in the project.
• · Team does not know their responsibilities and what they will achieve at end of the project.

One of the most prominent reasons for burnout/boredom is not able to see substantial growth in day today activities performed at workplace. The work life may differ from being in a relatively iterative routine profile( say an office assistant) to a fast paces rapidly evolving arena (say a technology consultant). In more than 95% of the cases if leadership has the ability to portray personal growth to the individual then the phenomenon can be avoided. Like in a iterative work environment if the focus is laid on the bigger picture and how daily efforts add to the bigger picture of the project, of the company and lets just say for the industry then the motivation level can be sustained even with demanding routines over extended periods. In simple words laying of bricks at a government building is more motivating if its made known that foundation to the nations growth is being laid here as future generations will create growth policies for the nation under the roof which is being built now. 

Similarly in a fast paced environment if we can develop a mechanism where the learning can be portrayed ( like a self wiki page where added learning are portrayed to the larger group of professionals both within and outside the firm) a new zeal to excel can be achieved in the entire range of professionals. 

Here solutions for one group of professionals might not work as effectively for the other so a multi pronged approach is recommended to identify most prominent group types in the firm and deploy solutions to address those issues. This is one of the primary issues a knowledge management team effectively handle through efficient proliferation of individual learning.

Reorganise them to refresh them up. Give them new challenges and performance targets. Find out what motivates them and ask them how you can help them. If they are genuinely burnt out give them a break by giving them a recovery task or a long weekend in return for their extra hours worked

to open a friendly discussion with bored team members, one by one and to anticipate the real reasons making certain team member feels bored. I ask every team member the expected solution(s) to eliminate such reasons

 

I do a chart with collected reasons read to feeling bored versus number of team members feeling bored due to certain reasons

 

Then I select the top three reasons and trying to find suitable and practical solution to eliminate these reasons and re-evaluate

examples to common and simple actions/solutions...

- Give a vacation to relax and rest

- Arrange use or a trip to park or beach

- Changes in teams members

- Change walls paints

- Change office furniture arrangements-. ..

Give them new challenges and performance targets. Find out what motivates them and ask them how you can help them. If they are genuinely burnt out give them a break by giving them a recovery task or a long weekend in return for their extra hours worked.

If you can, breakup your new project into some smaller bit sized chunks, so the team can get a few small wins to build some momentum on

Recognize good work when it happens, right on the spot.

Motivate: Explain the team member, his importance and contribution to the project and why the company is dependent so much on him for this task.