Morale, the silent predator lurking in your office waiting for the perfect time to attack your employees confidence, well-being, and feeling of self-worth. Once it sinks its teeth in, it's like a cancer, spreading throughout the office if left undetected, eventually sucking the life out of employees if left untreated. Typically, nobody wants to talk about it nor do they want to do anything about it.
Morale levels are often driven by office culture and politics, leadership, business processes, and overall job satisfaction in any work environment. Poor employee morale can contribute to, but not limited to:
· Social cliques & silos
· Poor job performance & productivity
· Tardiness
· Gossiping
· Employee turn over
· Financial loss
The factors that drive morale are endless, but as a leader, you have more power to drive the direction of overall employee morale than you think. It requires time, patience, and a “genuine” investment to get your teams morale at an all-time high.
Some key things I believe in practicing on a daily basis:
· Greet people as you arrive to work-it’s a simple task that show you are approachable! Don’t be afraid to spend a few minutes walking around to members of your team and ask how they are doing. Your team will appreciate this little gesture of your time and make them feel less like an employee and more like a member of a family. Show interest beyond the space they occupy each day.
· Be consistent-consistency drives loyalty and trust! Employees are more prone to be loyal and trusting of leadership that follow consistent business practices. If you schedule regular team meetings, hold people accountable, provide constructive feedback, email weekly updates, etc. etc., be consistent! Your consistency builds your “brand” and automatically drives loyalty.
· Put yourself in their shoes-As a leader, we are empowered to make decisions and implement changes in the best interest of the company. The company includes the employees that help drive it so we need to put ourselves in their shoes before and after we make critical decisions that may indirectly or directly impact them. How would your action make you feel as an employee? It’s a very simple question and one that should prepare you to be very effective when making impactful decisions.
· Communicate-Communication is key and often the biggest contributing factor to low morale. Communication must come from the top down and always be consistent. Whether it’s an email, company newsletter, staff meeting, telephone conference, etc. Communicating with your team is essential. Nobody ever complained about receiving too much communication! Those that do are typically ineffective communicators and tend to grow uncomfortable around proficient communicators.
· Be a supportive leader-Employees do not inherently follow leaders because of their job title or position within a company. Engage your staff regularly and ask what they need help with, how you can help mentor them and grow their knowledge, have their back in times of need, etc. etc. Learn to roll up your sleeves and support company initiatives right alongside them from time to time. Show that you can sail the ship, but also man the engine!
· Provide feedback-It’s important to let employees know where they stand and it’s essential to give constructive feedback and praise when it’s due. Always let your employees know that they are appreciated for the job they do, but also take the time to suggest ways they can improve when and if it’s required. Step outside your comfort zone every once in a while and ask for feedback in return. Ask your employees what you could be doing differently or work on. You will be amazed by the response!
· Empower Your Employees-You have hired your team to do a job so it's important that you enable them to do it! Delegate tasks and assignments and let your team make decisions necessary to complete them. If they make a mistake, it's okay! Use mistakes as an opportunity to coach them and then give them the room necessary to improve. The more you empower employees to do the job at hand, their confidence levels will improve. Subsequently, they will become more productive!
· Be humble-This bullet point speaks for itself.
Is employee morale an issue for your company? Share your thoughts or comments!