Build Team Morale

Engaging employees and fostering a sense of accomplishment will help them realize their full potential

When former U.S. Air Force pilot-turned-business-consultant/motivational speaker/author Danny Cox talks about the importance of good workplace morale, he often relates an anecdote from survival-training courses in which he participated years ago.

“We had a tough old sergeant who said that if we ever had to eject from our airplane, and ended up in the wilderness for three or four days, we’d be found dead — unless we could feel like we accomplished something every day, no matter how small it was,” he says. “He said that if we can do that, we’d be found hale and hearty.”

So what does that have to do with your organization? If you want good morale, the answer is everything, says Cox, who used to fly fighter jets for the renowned Thunderbirds air-demonstration squadron.

“The same principle applies in the business world,” he explains. “Even achieving a small daily goal makes you feel like today is different from yesterday. If you’re just repeating yesterday over and over, you’ll have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, especially if yesterday wasn’t all that great. Employees have to constantly get better at what they’re doing.”

Cox learned a lot about workplace morale after he became a civilian and got a job as a real-estate sales manager. By his own admission, Cox was much better at flying jets at supersonic speeds than managing his staff. When his employer threatened to fire him because his team went from number one to worst in sales performance, he knew that in terms of management style, it was time to straighten up and fly right.

“So I started taking people to lunch to find out how to get better,” he recalls. “I laid out a plan to work better with the people who hated me. I based it on evaluating their weaknesses and strengths … I figured I needed to be aware of their weaknesses and talk to their strengths. And eventually, we got back to number one [in sales].”

Then Cox got transferred to another office where salesperson turnover was 147 percent. After five years, Cox got that number down to 20 percent. Figuring he was onto something, his third career — this time as a motivational consultant, coach and author — soon followed.

Heed the signs

Cox says there are 10 tell-tale signs of low morale: uncooperative employees; lack of enthusiasm; no commitment; constant fault-finding; tardiness and absenteeism; increased complaints; a deteriorating, sloppy workplace; breakdowns in discipline; zombie-like, unhappy workers; and constant talking about low morale.

“The low morale actually becomes a rallying point for employees,” Cox says. “It’s all people talk about, and it’s very damaging … you can’t let chickens roost over your well, because it ruins the water.”

While the signs of low morale may be fairly apparent, the underlying causes can be more difficult to discern. Based on his years of experience, here’s Cox’s take on the nine most common reasons for low morale:

  1. Workers don’t fully understand their jobs
  2. Unrealistic or constantly changing goals
  3. Poor organizational communication
  4. Absentee management
  5. Over-inflated organizational structure; too many people in upper management that lose touch with what’s going on in the field
  6. Employees in unsuitable jobs (round-pegs-in-square-holes syndrome)
  7. Non-people-oriented managers
  8. Lack of constructive feedback
  9. Inadequate training

As a manager, the solutions to some of these problems are obvious. Others, however, are as difficult to solve as repairing a jet engine at altitude. Nonetheless, Cox points out there are many things managers can do on their own to build a high-morale team.

1. Keep jobs interesting. “I call it the plate-spinning concept, like the guy at the circus who keeps all those plates spinning,” Cox says. “A good manager takes a different person out for lunch or coffee each week and talks about how things are going. Or holds a meeting in a park. It’s not hard to do and not very time-consuming. Or think about bringing in speakers who can talk about topics that benefit the company.”

2. Treat people fairly. Few things damage morale more than holding some accountable for the same things others are not.

3. Offer more responsibility. If an employee has an aptitude for numbers, for instance, let them handle a task related to that. “It shows you have faith in them,” he says.

4. Welcome new ideas. Then, when someone puts the idea into action, hold a staff meeting and talk about what did and didn’t work and what the employee learned from the experience.

5. Foster a sense of accomplishment. Show employees how to use their strengths to accomplish something, then be sure to congratulate them when they succeed.

6. Recognize effort. Consider doing things such as sending a letter of recognition to an employee’s home, calling them on a holiday to thank them for everything they do and recognizing their employment anniversaries, he recommends.

7. Support personal growth. “Praise, recognition and relationships are the very substance of motivation,” he says.

8. Provide new opportunities. “Offering someone a new path in a company assures them they’re not in a closed-in job,” he notes.

But above all, be sure employees accomplish something on a daily basis, even if it’s just a small task. Doing so makes the difference between high-morale, motivated employees and the another-day, another-dollar workers.

“The difference between those two attitudes can be a real sobering realization for a manager,” Cox says.



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