Leadership Tips to Increase Morale

Low morale in the workplace can be a symptom of many ailments. It can range from outside economic frustrations to too much work and not enough help.

Being an effective Leader in your organization means identifying challenges that may affect your group’s performance, and putting together an action plan that will help alleviate those difficulties.

Some solutions can be very involved and labor intensive – strategic planning, implementation, and follow-through can be time consuming but are necessary components to successful organizations. However, if you have an urgent morale problem that must be addressed and corrected immediately, you may want to look at short-term, effective fixes that can move your organization – and staff – forward.

You may already have most of the answers to your morale issues in your head – the solution may be as simple as listening to your staff.

• Pay attention to your employees. Sounds simple, but how often do you listen to what they are really saying? Are they getting sick more often? Do they complain more now than a few months ago? Do they have time to take sufficient breaks? Do they appear to be ‘spinning their wheels’ and nothing gets accomplished?

These are all signs of a problem that needs immediate attention. If a formal meeting is out of the norm for your company, try one-on-one communication. Get past the symptoms to what is really causing the problems.

Solutions may be as simple as offering flex-time to accommodate family issues; having a ‘shred’ day at the office to get rid of accumulated ‘junk mail’ and old files that can be bogging down work performance; or how about cross-training staff to alleviate workload lopsidedness.

Be creative and keep it simple. The benefits far out-weigh the effort you have to put forth to empower and motivate your staff.

Increase productivity, increase morale, empower your staff, and give them the tools they need to succeed.

To your success!

Kathy Nesselroad