If We Are Doing So Great…Why is Morale So Low?

If We Are Doing So Great…Why is Morale So Low?

Most of our clients have had one of their best years ever. The teams are exceeding their goals, customers are plentiful and happy and, most importantly for the shareholders, profits have never been higher. Another way to say this, the organizations we are working with are clearly winning.

Despite this level of unprecedented organizational success, we are working with some team members who are not feeling like they are personally winning or achieving team success. How can this be? These are the good times. Isn’t morale supposed to be high when results are good and we are meeting or exceeding expectations?

When we interview employees, some of the common reasons we find why people feel they are not winning, even when the organization is highly successful include:

1. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.  To produce great results, it takes hard work.  Working hard and putting in long hours is tiresome and most people can do it for a specific period of time. I can travel all week doing presentations for clients.  What gives me hope is the following week, I can spend some catch up time in the office.  When I travel for two or three weeks in a row, I start to focus on the negative impact the travel is having on my body, my family and my team at work.
2. Collaborative behaviors are not demanded or rewarded: The focus is for the individual leader to lead the group and hit their goals. Inevitably, a lack of collaboration, communication and teamwork leads to additional conflicts. Having conflicts with your peers who are also focused on their own goals, usually does not feel like you are winning.
3. Not feeling valued or appreciated: If everyone is so busy trying to get the huge workload completed, then there is a lack of time to tell people they had a great week or month, and that they make a significant difference to the team’s or organization’s success. We call this the race horse syndrome. You race the horse in the first race, whipping the horse continuously to make it go faster, and when the race is done, instead of stopping to give the horse some oats, carrots and water, you immediately enter the horse into the next race.When a leader becomes obsessed with results, employees feel the leader only cares about the results improving (usually profits) and does not care about the people who are responsible for achieving the results.
4. Systems and processes cannot handle the workload: When everyone is so busy, most leaders find it difficult to stop the bus to change the tires and put in a more powerful engine. So, the system and team members continue to endure the stress of a process that cannot handle the increased workload.

5. Ego gets in the way:  When a leader focuses on, and attributes success to “me” rather than “you” or “we,” almost always, morale declines.

When results are good and you are winning, morale should be high.  When it is not, here are 8 tips to help re-build organizational morale.

1. Focus on results and relationships. Keep in mind that people produce results. A person who feels appreciated will always do more than expected.

2. Recruit the cream of the crop. It is one thing when a mediocre performer has low morale.  It is another issue when a top performer has low morale.  When that happens, leaders need to take responsibility and focus on ensuring the top performer feels that their contributions are valued and that their contributions make a significant difference to the organization’s success.

3. Create a culture of work-life balance. The principles of maintaining a successful business and work-life balance are the same. Develop a clear, positive vision for a balanced life for yourself and your team. Focus on priorities. Get organized. Build in margin. Allow people to say, “No.” Encourage people to use their vacation time.

4. Demand teamwork and collaboration. Remember, there is no “I” in team. Demand collaboration and support from all team members. Set up processes for cross-functional communication. Lean into conflict and address problem situations as soon as they arise.

5. Set standards and hold everyone accountable. Deal with performance issues.  If you have a mediocre performer on your team, you are never going to be happy with their performance. If you are never going to be happy, most likely, they are never going to be happy. People who are not happy cannot have high morale.  When you have performance issues on your team, we have a simple formula.  Coach and counsel the mediocre or poor performer.  If coaching and counseling do not work, then share your mediocre performer with a competitor.  To allow mediocre performance to continue destroys morale.

6. Make time for routine maintenance of systems and processes.  Ask yourself, “Are we still doing things the way we have always done them, just because we have always done them this way?”  Encourage innovation to ensure your processes are efficient and support today’s business needs.

7. Celebrate successes with everyone.  The sales department in an organization we work with had a winning year and carried the organization to new heights. The executive team decided it was time to celebrate the success by serving everyone ice cream; but not just everyone in the sales department but everyone in the entire organization from marketing to operations to shipping. Why? Because everyone in the organization had contributed to their success. And the best part of the story is that it was the executive leaders that scooped up the ice cream.

8. Keep your ego in check. – In the words of Arnold H. Glasow, “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”

Implement the eight tips outlined above and you will be assured of high morale in and out of winning seasons.