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3 Ways to Encourage a Positive Employee Morale in the Workplace
Summary: As a leader, it is your responsibility that your employees enjoy working in your team. Practicing good intentions by letting people feel acknowledged and safe is how they really spur themselves into action. A positive office culture is the perfect ground to sow the seeds for brilliant ideas which eventually grow into success stories that a company, as a whole, gets to reap.
The ability to retain top employees in today’s candidate-driven market depends on the corporate culture. Employee engagement and happiness are closely related to feeling valued and appreciated at work. Without positive employee morale, there is no way the work environment could be healthy, which in turn could easily deteriorate the overall productivity and the chances of being successful for the company.
An excellent illustration of this point is the fiasco Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO got into when a video of him getting into a heated argument with an employee surfaced on the internet. At the end of a ride, the driver raises points about how Kalanick dropped the prices on Uber black while raising standards, giving way to other uber competitors and resulting in major losses and sufferings on the part of his drivers. Kalanick’s response to this issue raised by his ground level staff was that ““Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own shit”. The video recording was turned over to Bloomberg, following which 200,000 accounts got deleted on Uber and #DeleteUber trended on Twitter. 1 But Kalanick made major steps to come forward and mend this, stating that he is willing to attempt growing as a leader.
Unsure of how to express your appreciation to your team? Here are 3 steps you can take to actively foster good intentions towards your employees, and make a culture consistent with the values of care and compassion to truly make a positive system.
Give Every Employee Their Due Credit
You know what goes a long way in boosting the morale of a person? Positive reinforcements and recognition where it’s due. To praise your employees and reward them for their good work, is what motivates them to continue giving their best performance day in and day out.2 Also, more than anything, employees should be provided with opportunities to advance the professional ladder based on their performance. This will not only make them feel valued and motivate them to work harder, but also eventually reduce the frequency of your top employees looking for work elsewhere. Giving employees their due credit displays your presence through your transparent good-intentions and helps your employees trust you more.
Don’t Undervalue the Power of Transparency
Transparency is a huge part of good leadership. As a manager, you have to be able to justify your decision, whether it’s a promotion or a punishment. If your team believes you have been unfair to them in any way, you need to have an explanation for your decision.3 Remember that even a small explanation, if reasonable, can prove very useful in making sure your employees understand not just your individual decisions, but also the bigger
picture you have in mind for the business and everyone involved.
A Culture of Wellbeing comes before Performing Well
It is a very undeniable scientific fact you can only bring yourself to actually do things most effectively if you truly bring your presence mindfully.. To get there, the workplace needs to be a space where team members look out for each other and wish each other well, despite any personal differences or momentary tiffs. What often ensues is something researchers have called an “incivility spiral”, people becoming increasingly aggressive towards each other.4 This is easily avoided by astonishingly small measures: vocally wishing people well, highlighting whatever few qualities you find worth appreciating. This helps people feel safer, avoids the tipping points that lead to incivility spirals.
Impact on Leadership
Office culture is completely dependent on the morale of each employee. Using these three tips will aid you in creating a positive office culture, where people feel taken care of and in turn increase levels of compassion all around. This provides a win-win solution for both your company and your employees. It’s critical for leaders to be aware of their influence on others around them.
Star Mindset
Your actions and attitude have an impact on your team no matter where you are in the organisational structure, from first-level manager to CEO. You must address the issues that annoy employees and degrade workplace morale if you want to see real improvements.
3 Immediately Applicable Action Steps
- Regularly highlight what it is that you like about people in your interactions with them.
- Come up with justifiable explanations for decisions that you take at the workplace.
- Regularly express concern for your employee’s wellbeing and ask them how it can be made better.
References
- James, G. (2019, December 18). The Biggest Business Disasters of 2019 | Inc.com. Inc. Magazine. https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/had-a-rough-year-well-these-5-brands-had-year-from-hell.html
- Larson, S. A., & Hewitt, A. S. (n.d.). STAFF MOTIVATION AND RECOGNITION Traci L. LaLiberte, Amy S. Hewitt, and Sheryl A. Larson TARGETED FRONT-LINE SUPERVISOR COMPETEN. Institute on Community Integration. https://ici.umn.edu/products/docs/Staff_Recruitment_book/Ch_9.pdf
- Llopis, G. (2020, April 15). 5 Powerful Things Happen When A Leader Is Transparent. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/09/10/5-powerful-things-happen-when-a-leader-is-transparent/?sh=552539c4a3af
- Andersson, Lynne M., and Christine M. Pearson. “Tit for Tat? The Spiraling Effect of Incivility in the Workplace.” The Academy of Management Review 24, no. 3 (1999): 452–71. https://doi.org/10.2307/259136.
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