Productivity often gets placed as a leader’s highest priority in the workplace. However, some parts of the overall recipe for strong productivity can be easily overlooked. One of those ingredients that you can not afford to leave out is employee morale. Employee morale is your team’s feeling of well-being both as individuals and as a working group. When that has gone awry, it usually manifests itself in burnout. We all know workplace burnout, and we all know how toxic it can be. As a leader, you can’t control your employees’ feelings, but you can control their environment, and you should take steps to make it morale-nurturing.
1. Communication
In order to keep your team happy, you will need to communicate effectively. A great level of communication with your employees allows you to get ahead of workplace problems before they spread. Effective leaders can talk to their employees and get honest feedback on past or impending issues and act accordingly. The most important part is listening—your employees have feelings too!
2. Transparency
You can’t always control what your employees will think of their tasks, but you can make sure that they trust your leadership. If your office is in a funk, you’ll need to acknowledge it honestly. Don’t keep changes or issues from your workforce. No matter how much easier it is to rationalize that you’re shielding them from something, you’re more than likely just letting it snowball.
3. Effective Recognition
Employees need to know that they are important and valued. A great way to do this without raising salaries is to give effective recognition and give it often. The way in which to give that recognition should be tailored to the situation. Sometimes just a nicely worded email can suffice; sometimes recognition should be public to really highlight an accomplishment. Just make sure you give it out whenever it’s due. Positively highlighting an employee’s achievement or behavior is how you get them to repeat it.
4. Promoting Creativity
Having a positive, healthy work environment can lead to a lot of good. As an effective manager, you will need to make sure not to get in the way. Happier employees will come up with brighter ideas, which can be to your benefit. You need to let your employees know that you appreciate their ideas and efforts. Even bad ideas have value as they promote discussion and problem-solving opportunities.
It doesn’t matter how tight of a ship you run; your employees at least have to know that their manager is open to their ideas and ingenuity.
Whether you’re trying to stave off low morale, or your office is already in turmoil, it’s not going to be easy. As a leader, you’re not going to always make the most popular decision or even the best one. Employees want to feel appreciated and acknowledged, and that’s far easier for you to control. Low office morale can be a headache, but the answer is always empathy. Think about why your team is burnt-out or disillusioned. Put yourself in their shoes first and foremost. That’s where it starts. Low office morale can be an ailment very hard to treat, but there are clear steps you can take as a leader to remedy even the toughest situation.