Recently, I was speaking to a group of organizational leaders about workplace culture, and I asked them about some of the more challenging issues they are seeing. One leader responded: “apathy” — to which numerous others nodded in affirmation. They went on to elaborate:
“Younger leaders are more passive”
“They seem willing to live with the status quo,” and
“They lack passion — they don’t seem to have any ‘fire in their belly.’”
The senior leaders I was training were asking: “What do I do?” “How can I motivate a developing leader who doesn’t seem interested?” Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve heard this concern. So, let’s explore this issue of apathy.
Understanding Apathy
Apathy is essentially a lack of interest or concern, characterized by indifference and an “I don’t care” attitude. When a person is apathetic, they lack passion for virtually everything; there’s a loss of motivation accompanied by a lack of emotion (either positive or negative). Other symptoms include a general passivity, a lack of initiative, low emotional energy and an overarching social disengagement.
These individuals approach life in a disinterested, passive manner. They are clearly not self-initiating and those who supervise them feel like they are “pushing a rope.”
Where Apathy Comes From
Apathy and indifference can be the result from many different sources.
- Hopelessness — belief that you’ll never reach your goals
- Powerlessness – a sense that there’s nothing they can do to change the situation
- Fatalism – “it’s all going to hell in a hand basket” so why do anything?
- Boredom – many employees are in a position which under-utilizes their skills and they are “bored to death”
- Meaninglessness — when employees don’t see the connection between what they do and the end product or service the organization provides.
- Learned helplessness — through being micromanaged and having their actions undercut by others
- Not feeling valued – when employees don’t feel appreciated by their colleagues, their motivation declines significantly
Attacking Apathy
The best place to begin is to have an individual discussion with the team member that seems to “not care” and has low energy. Start by sharing your observations: “Steve, I’ve noticed that you often don’t seem very excited about the work you are doing.” Follow by checking in with them (versus stating your observation as a fact): “Is that a fair statement?”
If they confirm your observation(s) are correct, then share your concerns about them as a person: “I’m concerned for you – I don’t want you to drag yourself through the day or hate what you are doing. Can you help me understand your thoughts and perspective?” This step is important because other factors outside of work can be creating challenges for them: not feeling well physically, marital stress, financial difficulties, depression… If they identify an external source of their struggles, offer support and see what (not if) you could do that might be helpful. (Often a referral or recommendation to a professional or organization is needed.)
Assuming there is not a major external issue affecting their attitude toward work, I would suggest printing the above list of reasons for people feeling apathetic and talk through the list with the employee. “Steve, there are a lot of reasons people get discouraged and aren’t energized about what they are doing. Take a look at this list and tell me which of these seem relevant to you.”
We don’t have the time and space here to address the corrective actions for each source, but work together with your team member to first find out what you could do differently that would be helpful and then also identify some action they can take to make their situation better. CAUTION #1: Don’t let them off the hook without specifying an action they can take. CAUTION #2: Don’t leave without setting up a time and date (typically within a week) to check back with one another on each of your action steps. Otherwise, there is a high probability that no follow through will actually happen.
Consider this:
If you’ve passion- the desire to succeed at all cost, there won’t be any lack or limitation that could stop you. Passion wipes out excuses.
Dr. Assegid Habtewold
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Feel free to comment and share your own observations about apathy, potential sources, and possible action steps.
