Morale Building Made Easy

The results of many Employee Opinion Surveys we conduct often indicate that morale is low in specific departments or across the entire organization. Morale is tricky because it is usually the result of other problems. Yet, once the root causes are identified, turning around morale can be quite simple.

When employees complain about low morale or rate it low on a survey, we follow up with interviews to learn more about the causes and symptoms. When we ask employees what they believe are the causes of low morale they often site the following concerns:

• Lack of appreciation and recognition from their manager and the organization
• Lack of mutual respect among coworkers
• Lack of trust between leaders and employees
• Lack of cross-departmental communication and teamwork between managers, supervisors, and employees
• Lack of opportunity for growth or advancement

Symptoms often cited by leadership include:

• Low employee engagement scores or lower scores on subsequent surveys
• Rising turnover across the organization or higher than average in specific departments
• Grievances filed with HR or over the organization’s ethics hotline regarding the way employees are treated

If your organization’s morale is trending lower or you are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, implement the actions listed below to identify the causes unique to your organization and take action to build an even stronger team, improve the relationships between managers and their employees, and increase productivity. Keep in mind that low morale is most often a result of other concerns like communication, teamwork, respect and recognition. When you address these problems, morale improves.

1. Administer an Employee Opinion Survey.  A survey will help you identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement within your organization. Along with questions related to morale, the survey should address clarity of goals, communication, teamwork, integrity and ethics, recognition, performance management, benefits, and training and development opportunities.
2. Present organization-wide survey findings to the senior leadership team. Overall organization results should be presented to your senior leaders that have decision-making and leadership responsibility for the entire organization.
3. Conduct focus groups or one-on-one interviews. When the exact causes for low scores on a survey are not clear, conduct one-on-one interviews with employees of all levels within the department in question. If the overall results for the entire organization leave you with questions, facilitate focus groups or individual interviews with a cross-section of employees representing all levels and departments across the entire organization.
4. Develop an organization-wide action plan. Senior leaders are responsible for the success of the entire organization and should identify the top three areas they feel are most important to address. Develop action plans to address designated areas. Communicate your plans and commitment to improvement to all employees.
5. Provide each manager and supervisor with the Employee Opinion Survey data for their area of influence and responsibility. Managers and supervisors should only be given results for their department or the area over which they can enact change. Mid-level managers do not have the authority to influence another manager’s area and providing managers with results from other departments only creates competition and negative feelings.
6. Develop action plans within each department. Have every manager or supervisor who receives survey results related to their area of influence develop a team action plan to address lower rated areas. Plans should be developed together with all department members.  
7. Schedule weekly leadership and department meetings. Review and discuss progress on action plans on a regular basis.  Identify obstacles that hinder team members from moving forward on their actions. Outline new action steps and recommit to taking action.
8. Have each manager and supervisor develop a Leadership Action Plan. Based on the skills learned in training, have each manager and supervisor develop a personal leadership action plan to become an even stronger leader. Check in regularly to assess progress, provide feedback, coach and counsel, and hold leaders accountable to taking action, implementing new skills and raising levels of morale and productivity within their team or department.
9. Provide leadership skills training to all members of the management team. Demonstrate your commitment to the success of all leaders and offer training to address leadership gaps identified in the survey. Valuable topics include:
   • Leadership…Developing Followers
   • The Changing Role of the Supervisor
   • Relationship Strategies…Building an Even Stronger Team
   • Effective Communication
   • Effectively Leading Organizational Change
   • Coaching and Counseling for Improved Performance
   • Conducting an Effective Performance Evaluation
   • Motivating the Team Without Money

We recently partnered with a department in a large financial services institution to implement the steps outlined above to improve morale and create an environment where everyone loved to come to work.  On a follow-up Employee Opinion Survey, results for the department improved from the lowest quartile to the highest performing department in the division. The organization also achieved some additional benefits:

• For 12 of the 14 managers and supervisors who represent this department, their Employee Opinion Survey results significantly improved by an average of 13 percentage points
• For 12 of the 14 managers and supervisors who represent this department, turnover decreased from an average of 23.0 percent to an average of 8.4 percent
• In a follow-up management team assessment, the teamwork and communication between managers and supervisors significantly improved
• Based on the results of the second survey and a lack of commitment to improving as a leader and building a stronger team, two managers were removed from their leadership positions

Morale is never just a morale issue, it negatively impacts engagement, communication, teamwork, innovation and productivity. Peter Barron Stark Companies can help you get to the bottom of your morale issues and implement actions to take the morale in your organization to new heights, along with engagement, productivity and enjoyment.