Five Common Ways You Could Be Killing Employee Morale

January 6, 2012

Yesterday, we held our firm-wide retrospective and kick-off.  As a firm, we take the time to reflect on the year behind us while renewing our focus on the New Year and the goals we have set as a team.  We talk about things we did well, areas we could improve, and how we can work together to become more efficient and successful.   Individually, we also have an opportunity to take a moment to give feedback and share our appreciation for the teams across the firm.   This positive discussion has an immediate and significant impact on the overall morale of our employees!  I think it’s fair to say that, as a whole, our firm ended the meeting feeling excited, motivated and ready for the year ahead.

What’s cool about our firm is that this morale boost session doesn’t just happen once a year, but we host a retrospective once a quarter as a firm and as individual teams it is happening at least once a week if not more.  It is one great way that we can keep the morale high across the firm throughout the year, in addition to the day-to-day boosts we get through steady feedback, applauds on achievements and consistent communication.

The positive boost yesterday forced me to reflect upon other teams and organizations I have worked on where morale tended to suffer.

The 5 Most Common Employee Morale Killers

  1. Not celebrating wins!  Days seem to be crowded by customer demands and quotas to meet, and it’s often easy to miss out an opportunity to provide kudos on individual, team and company wins.  Recognizing achievements and celebrating wins as a team is an important way to remind your team of the goals they are working toward and how the work they do each day impacts your organization’s overarching goals.  Be warned, another common killer that can sneak up in this same category is also favoritism.  Be certain that you spread the wealth as often as you can and recognize and reward similar achievements in a consistent manner across the teams.
  2. Lacking a clearly defined plan or purpose.  While creativity and having an opportunity to be innovative is important, employees are also seeking guidance and direction.  They want to know that their work is contributing to a greater goal for the good of the team, your company and, intrinsically, the world.   Changing the plan is fine and often necessary.  Being agile is great.  But whether it be a weekly meeting, a conference call, a larger project or your mission for 2012, it’s important to your employee’s morale that they know, you know, what you are working to achieve together.
  3. Keeping feedback to yourself (…a well-known oxymoron).  All too often, managers shy away from offering feedback.  Maybe they don’t feel they have time, the issue is small or they are afraid it won’t be taken constructively.   Whether it be positive or negative, feedback is essential!  It lets your employees know that you value the time, effort and results of their work, their personal growth and development, and want to help them succeed.  Establishing yourself as a motivated leader, engaged in your employees work and supporting their success and achievements is important.
  4. Poor follow-through or making empty promises.  Bottom-line: if you tell your employees or team that you’re going to do something, do it.  And if you can’t, offer a logical explanation or follow-up as soon as possible.  While some things may seem small and innocent (neglecting to reply to an email requesting your input or failing to reschedule a missed meeting), a series of these will begin to weigh on your employees.  Empty promises, particularly in relation to compensation or promotions, should quite frankly never happen.  If you are not 100% sure that it will happen or it’s achievable, don’t say it, or you will severely damage employee morale and your reputation.
  5. Keeping employees in the dark.  There are certainly some confidential situations that will impact your employees that you cannot share until a certain point.  However, keeping details or information that is not confidential but will impede on their ability to achieve their goals and find success can be extremely frustrating and de-motivating.  The same goes for not communicating goals – team, company or those of other individuals – and ignoring bad situations.  Over-communicate when possible and reinforce!

Honestly, I think most of these killers happen unassumingly, and often times can even begin with the best intentions.  Next time you take a pulse on your team and the morale feels a little stale, do a quick gut check.

As a team lead, manager, or executive, have you been committing any of these crimes?  What techniques, events or methods have you implemented that have a positive impact on employee spirits?

Park Square Executive Search

Jessica Ray previously was responsible for recruiting initiatives for both the firm and its portfolio companies. Currently, Jessica is a Senior Associate at Park Square Executive Search <a href="http://www.parksquare.com/">Park Square Executive Search</a>.