Morale: a gift no one can give you

  by Ken Gentner

When I was serving in Iraq, the concept of morale was constantly used as a wedge issue between levels of leadership. 

Junior enlisted personnel would talk about morale (or a lack thereof) as a way to illustrate the failures of their leaders. Sergeants would talk about morale as a constant, elusive enemy that works to divide the force, make them weak, and turn the unit to internal strife. Morale was spoken of in broad terms, but when you asked someone to specify what morale actually was, nobody could identify it. Is this so far off from reality that it doesn’t apply in your daily work?  Morale is the most misused word in the working world. Morale is misunderstood, but what is morale, really?

Morale comes from within. Confidence, self-confidence, self-esteem, team spirit, enthusiasm…these are not items on a storeroom shelf or available for purchase. Morale is something you build within you. Each person’s morale is as elusive as a dream, and has meaning only to them.

MORALE CHECK

• Do my employees have the training they need to get the job done so they can work independently or effectively?
• Are there obstacles keeping my employees from working at their best?
• What is the level of engagement my employees display?
• Am I doing my part to stay connected to my employees?
• Are my employees recognized for the work they do?
• Am I over/under supervising my employees?
• Are they burnt out? Can I change their routines/duties (cross-train)?

Personnel would talk about morale (or a lack thereof) as a way to illustrate the failures of their leaders. 

If morale is low, leaders have an obligation to find out why, but working to appease a morale issue with individuals is counterproductive. The best way to raise morale is to eliminate the drag on morale. Employee morale goes down during leadership shake-ups, economic downturns, and manpower reductions—but there’s more. Did you know employees who are micro-managed or are unsure of their job duties and expectations can also suffer a drop in morale? There are a few things you can do immediately to get to the root cause of the drop in morale with your team; here are a few ideas to consider:

A poorly-trained employee tends to hesitate on the job; hesitation leads to self-doubt and defensiveness. A defensive employee will lash-out and become cynical toward leadership—your leadership to be specific. Many of the conflicts we encounter on the job in terms of employee motivation can be linked to poor training. Ask yourself if your employees can complete their assigned tasks without the aid or direction of someone else. Can they complete their tasks safely? Do they produce high-quality work? If the answer is no, then take another look at how the employee is trained.

Are your employees empowered to make decisions within their scope of responsibility?  If they are unable to make basic choices that positively impact workflow, they might be suffering from a form of dissonance between their work life and personal life.  If you remove the ability for employees to make basic decisions, they begin to question their own self-worth.  Furthermore, if everything must be run by you before moving forward, you could be creating a potential for unsafe work conditions.  Imagine a safety hazard in your workplace.  Now imagine that safety hazard being ignored because no one feels empowered to correct the issue.  Safety and work are not exclusive issues.  You cannot expect an employee to feel empowered to fix a safety issue when their wings are clipped about basic priorities of work.

While physical obstacles slow down productivity, there are abstract obstacles to consider as well. Lack of training can be an obstacle just as easily as a pallet jack left abandoned in a work bay can. Obstacles do not just exist before work begins; an obstacle can arise during the work day, too. Take the time to go on an in-house walkabout during your day. This means you need to make the time to get out from behind your desk and inspect the work areas. This inspection is not intended as a gotcha session to catch your employees doing something they shouldn't; this is meant to be an I'm here to see what you need now that work is underway session. Do your employees need supplies? Is there a maintenance issue with equipment? Are managerial headaches or priorities of work creating a conflict in production? You're the leader—so demonstrate your capacity for eliminating obstacles and mitigating challenges now.

An engaged employee comes to work and does more than what is asked of him/her and displays a "can-do" attitude. An employee who is not engaged may simply "be here for the paycheck". These employees may not be bad employees, but they aren't going above and beyond for anything. The not engaged employee isn't known for creativity or ingenuity, either. The employee to watch out for is the actively disengaged one. An actively disengaged employee works very hard at not working. These employees work to disrupt good order and discipline among the workforce and seek to undermine your authority. When you encounter an actively disengaged employee, don't walk by and ignore the issue. Something has happened to this employee between the day they were hired and the day you discovered their disengagement. Isolate the employee, ask open-ended questions, and try to understand how he/she is feeling about work. The more you know, the more you can help. What can you do to help them? It is important to note that if the employee is truly hostile, and none of your efforts have resolved the issue, do you really want that employee's behavior to continue among the workforce? Remember the old sayings about what bad apples do and what misery loves. 

While communication is a two-way street, the leader paves the road and paints the lines.  In a leader/follower relationship, or dyadic relationship, both parties are responsible for communicating, but the leader must set the tone for how the communications between the two are accomplished.  You must strike a conversational tone with your employees.  Feedback should be free and easy without ridicule or malice.  If your job requires informal or rapid communication that is devoid of verbal flourishes, then take the time to outline and illustrate this point in a proper setting.  Nothing beats a face-to-face discussion, but often we are forced to use text messaging to convey a point.  Do not leave your methods open to interpretation; be clear and precise in your language—even when texting!

In my experience, leaders tend to focus on negatives rather than positives.  Your employees may not say it, but they feel it.  Praise your people without flourish or empty words!  If they are doing a good job, what job are they doing, and what is the larger impact?  Take the time to be thoughtful and considerate to your employees.  Saying good job doesn't hold the same weight as Janet, thank you for leading the tour of our plant today.  Customers always like to see how their product is built, and your expertise inspired both confidence and quality with our visitors.  Keep up the great work!  Your title as a leader obligates you to going the extra mile for recognizing the great works our employees consistently deliver upon—make it your standard. 

Another word for over-supervising is micromanagement.  However, micromanagement is severely misunderstood.  To keep it simple:  if your employee has previously demonstrated the capacity in both skill and motivation to complete a task without direct supervision, then back off and let them do the job.  If you cannot do this, then you are demonstrating a lack of trust and actually impeding their ability to do the job.  In short, you are a micromanager.  However, there is a concept of leadership that is just as toxic to employee morale:  under-supervision.  If your employee is untrained or unskilled in a certain area (particularly if they are new employees), and no one is taking the time to provide targeted, useful training to them, then they are suffering from under-supervision.  Remember what I previously mentioned about training!

This is a tough issue for everyone.  Your best craftsmen might be good at what they do, but if they only do one thing, they are burning out on the job.  This burnout typically flies under anyone's notice.  Your employee may bristle at learning new things, training people in their craft, or using a different technique or equipment, but you aren't doing yourself any favors if you only have one person doing a critical task in your shop.  What happens when the employee takes a vacation?  What about a sick day?  Cross-training your employees on a variety of tasks refresh their outlook on the job and will help ensure coverage in the event of manpower shortages or other contingencies.  If you protect certain employees from certain tasks, who really has trust issues:  you, or the employee?

Fighting against the current of a negative morale trend is a serious undertaking for anyone.  It is the responsibility of a leader to confront negativity, but the burden can be made lighter if you can identify the source of the negativity.  Nobody likes being lost in the dark; make knowledge your torch.