Morale is a state of mind. It involves feelings and emotions. Since morale is created within each employee, it is often considered an elusive quality.
Morale is the attitude toward or perception of the job, work environment, team members, managers and the organization as a whole. Positive employee morale is usually exhibited by confidence, discipline and willingness to perform. There are no single factors that explain high or low morale, but rather a combination of related factors.
In today’s economic reality, the root cause of low employee morale can include job security issues, uncertain business conditions, limited upward mobility, a perceived lack of fair compensation and excessive outsourcing practices. In such an environment, employees focus more on their career choices, a sense of personal well-being and financial future.
The following is a checklist of important questions you should try to answer regarding your employee morale. This will help you ensure you’re creating a culture that allows your team to feel good about themselves and where they work.
If you need help answering any of these questions, contact me and I’ll help guide you through the process.
Checklist for Better Communication
- Do you know what your employees are thinking? How do you know?
- What methods do you use to communicate your message?
- What do you do to make learning fun and easy?
- How do you go about including your team in the decision-making process?
- How do you feel about giving critical feedback?
- What do you do to provide continuous feedback to employees on their efforts and performance?
- Do you encourage employees to provide suggestions for improvements? How?
- How do you give praise?
- What kind of a listener are you? Do you need more practice listening?
- How do you make sure your employees know what you expect?
Checklist for Sharing the Powers of Expectation
- How do you reinforce employees who do a good job?
- How do you promote two-way –not one-way – communication?
- What is your strategy for getting buy-in, commitment and ownership?
- How do you generate agreement, especially among those with whom you have low expectations?
- Are you consistent in the way you treat your employees? If not, why not?
- How do you encourage interaction among team members?
- How do you handle employees who have low expectations of themselves?
- What do you do to encourage calculated risk taking?
- How do you make people feel special?
- How do you celebrate success?
