What's the best way to improve team morale?

The key issue I believe is how the 'Team' is managed.

Too many 'teams' are in name only and too many 'team leaders' (and CEOs too) are convinced their job is tell everyone what to do, think and say.

Better leadership is what's needed for improved moral, not more staff training.

For some great insight into how leaders can successfully motivate people and how people really organize themselves to accomplish important tasks, like achieve important business goals, check out this top 50 classic business article from the last 15 years published by Booz & Co in their strategy + business magazine called:

Why C.E.O.'s Succeed (and Why They Fail): Hunters and Gatherers in the Corporate Life

you can find it on the web at: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/12502?pg=all

Create a culture where it is ok to fail and celebrate every success. Small wins build upon one another. They create confidence and competence which drives morale.

Recognize people for their contributions

I agree with Tom, building a winners' culture is the way to go. I worked for a company that did yearly employee satisfaction surveys and the top complaints every year were "lack of recognition" and "lack of communication." People want to feel like they're participants (not just pawns) and want their contributions to be recognized.

It gets tricky though when we try to figure out how to "recognize" people. And maybe that's what the survey gets at. What may be proper recognition to me may not be so to you. Some people want better titles, some want a flexible work environment, some want more money, some may just want more respect and some... just want a green card. ;) So watch, ask, listen, understand what each person's goals are and show support and appreciation.

Oh, and forgive me if I'm too blunt, but cut out the bad apples. One bad apple can spoil a truckload of perfectly good apples. It's amazing what eliminating poison can do to a team's morale.

Jessica, thanks for your question. I'm going to build on the answers above but add in the context of a team that may exist within an overall poor company culture. Unfortunately this scenario exists for many people.

The first thing is to control what you can control as the Team Leader. My experience and research indicates that pay is a massive de-motivator if it is not 'fair' in the overall context of pay within the company and the industry that you are in. If a person is not being paid fairly in this context, then pretty much everything else that the company does becomes less relevant over time. The pay issue becomes the core de-motivational issue.

If pay is 'unfair' then you must do what you can to fix that situation.

Most companies have systems and processes for accurately paying people. As such, if you beleive that a person is being paid unfairly, go in to 'bat' for them. Let them know what you are doing but also let them know that you have to follow the system's rules. Providing you have a record of being genuine, most people will be very pleased that you have taken the time and effort to go in to 'bat' for them. This act of support will often increase a person's motivation. However it won't last forever if the real problem isn't addressed. (Please note I accept that the research indicates that most people feel they are underpaid. However, when placed in the context of company and industry pay it is my experience that most people are able to identify if they are paid within and acceptable 'range' of pay.)

If pay is 'fair' then it is the cultural issues that come into play. It is possible, within limits, to create a positive sub-culture that may exist only in your team.

From my research from conducting many leadership development activities on this exact issue, the simultaneous things that you can do are very controllable.

You can genuinely appreciate and recognise the efforts of your team members. This starts with saying, "Thank you."

You can look out for developmental opportunities (including projects) and offer them to your team members.

You can listen to their suggestions and genuinely take them on board and then get back to them about why their idea has/hasn't been implemented.

You can assign tasks to team members that truly reflect their talents while at the same time creating some 'stretch' for them. Of course, this means that you will have bothered to find out what their talents are!

You can create team celebrations to celebrate successes.

You can bother to remember the whole of life details that your team members have felt comfortable sharing with you (ie their partners and/or childrens names, their birthday, special events in their life, their sporting teams and heroes etc.)

You can articulate how your team is contributing to your organisations vision and mission and help each person to 'see' how they are personally contributing to bringing these to life.

When times demand it you can make decisions that are timely and help the team to achieve its objectives.

These actions are all doable and are well within the control of a leader, irrespective of company culture.

It is my experience that when these activities are done with genuine intent, most people respond with an increase in self motivation and perform to a higher standard which is ultimately what leadership is trying to achieve.

Positive feedback has long been recognized as a critical element in high performing workplaces. During these tough economic times, when job security has vanished and employee trust in their employers has sunk to an all-time low, it has become more important than ever for raising morale and keeping employees motivated.

Positive feedback starts with recognizing and praising employees for particular behaviors and accomplishments that go beyond the everyday expectations of their jobs. For example, praise employees when they reach new levels of accuracy, develop or contribute significantly to another colleague, or create a new process, product or approach.

To maximize the impact of your positive feedback, make it:

• Immediate. Give the recognition as soon as possible after the event.

• Specific. State specifically what the person did that met or exceeded your expectations.

• Impactful. Explain how the event or behavior affected you, the team or the organization.

• Encouraging. Focus on the positive only. Be appreciative without mentioning other things that might need to change or be adjusted. Save those comments for times when you need to give constructive feedback.

• Focused. State how the performance or action was positive and contributed to success.

Everyone likes to be appreciated for what they do. Taking a few moments to verbally acknowledge employees for a job well done will do wonders for their morale.

Random thoughts on this topic:

* People need to feel as if they are making real contributions to the organization. It is up to management to engage teams in this manner.

* People need to play to their strengths, and finding out those strengths are management's responsibility.

* Management is not always effective "top-down". If you are a manager, think of yourself as more of a "facilitator".

* Practice patience. Things can develop slowly in team environments.

*Beware Groupthink. This is toxic. An absolute killer of creative and innovative thinking.

In my opinion, there are several keys to improving morale and building high-performing teams, but it all revolves around leadership, empowerment and communication.

1. Effective leaders are clear in their expectations, provide great direction and stay connected to team members, remain open to new ideas and change, and foster a culture that encourages innovation, risk-taking, trust and respect.
2. Empowered teams on average tend to be more goal-oriented, maintain a greater sense of ownership and accountability, are more directly involved in the business planning and as a result, focus more on outcomes and results versus activities and tasks.
3. High-performing teams provide open, honest and direct communication to their peers, management and other departments, follow the Golden Rule principles when dealing with people and performance, and celebrate "wins" both large and small.

The best way to improve morale is to lead by example, keep team members actively involved in the improvement process, communicate openly and honestly, and stay involved.

@John - As long as "empowerment" is the real deal and not what passes for it theses days at most companies. Real empowerment has to include the authority to manage those expectations.

The Golden Rule no longer applies. Not everywone wants to be treated like you would. We should use the Platinum Rule. Treat others as they want to be treated.
____________________________________________________________

You don't manage teams - you lead them.

I also can't motivate you since that's your own internal process. I can only create an environment in which you feel inspired to do great things.

Jeffery: pithy insightful comments / I quite like your 'Platinum Rule' hopefully it will lead people beyond the 'me' fixation so they can get to the 'we' perspective / well done!

What about fun?

Managing people well, recognizing their achievements and giving them opportunities to grow are all very important for morale. However, a top predictor of whether people want to come to work is if they positive relationships with coworkers.

Firing or laying off so many people over the last year has had a negative impact on morale. People saw people they liked losing their incomes and in some regrettable cases getting treated poorly into the bargain. At the same time, cost saving measures have squeezed the fun budget - team dinners or company meetings in an expensive venue have been put on hold indefinitely.

Maybe it's time to free up a little cash for fun to show that the good times are coming back again. This will help people feel more secure (i.e., a company spending money on fun is unlikely to start up massive layoffs again) as well as giving coworkers opportunities to connect personally.

No option in this poll is THE best. In fact, I think most of these are the tools of weak managers. Unless you dedicate yourself to building a culture that attracts and supports the best & brightest, you have to resort to tactics like these because of the weaknesses of your leadership.

Your question is unique to your present situation, so it depends. However, one point is universal; you must know the issues before you can improve morale. In my experience, a leader needs to get close to the individual team members and find what floats (and sinks) their boat. Address what you can with sincere changes. If you feel you cannot, then explain it clearly to individuals. They are real people in the real world and should understand. Build personal relationships. Build an environment that people will love and feel good about coming to work. Make it deeply personal. Unfortunately, you did not ask a specific question and this is not something that can be addressed in this short format. It sounds like you may be getting personally involved already and that is a great first step. Think about what you would like, in their shoes (and they may not know themselves), and make it happen. I hate to say it, but in today’s business climate, if a person cannot make the grade, you should cut them loose for the benefit of the entire team. Good luck.

Great question Jessica. I might add listening and giving people the opportunity to grow and use their skills and abilities. Ongoing and genuine praise is powerful. Team building is great as well if you do it over time and leadership participates.

I tend to make sure that the people in my team are motivated by the same things, and have the same sensibilities. We all motivate each other constantly by striving to out do each other. It all comes down to pin pointing what motivates someone at the interview stage and leveraging off that.

When it comes to motivation and morale, I like to follow the theories of positive psychology, and there are a lot of sources for improved business practice under that category. For a quick briefing on some of these strategies, check this article out:

http://managementhelp.org/guiding/motivate/basics.htm

If your team morale is low it stands to reason that productivity is suffering as well. A good leader will utilize
assessment tools that will identify if the team members are performing tasks that their strengths support and identify the stress levels and stressors that are lowering morale as well as performance. A good assessment will also identify individual motivators which will eliminate the guess work on what each team member needs to be motivated and stay motivated. Often times team members are assigned the type of tasks that are opposite of their strengths, identifying those strengths and re-assigning tasks should help to correct the problem.

I can only speak for myself but my morale is low when I am not used correctly or challenged or if I feel my skills are being "wasted".

For me, I want to feel like my contributions to the team really matter - that the stuff that I accomplish during the day really helps the company achieve some of its goals. That makes me work harder, and push myself to keep improving on my skills and tasks.

Unfortunately, far too often in bigger corporations - that doesn't always happen. In my field, politics usially gets in the way of actually getting things done. There is nothing worse than having every project/task you work on being held up because of internal politics. . . .

That's just my opinion!

Many of our clients ask me to speak at their annual sales meetings. I ask, "What do you want to accomplish?" Sometimes they answer, "We need to improve morale". I tell them, "It won't work."

They proceed to tell me that there are many famous speakers available (they name a few to give their argument weight) who improve morale.

I explain that most of the time these motivational speakers' effects are temporary, lasting a few days and then it's back to low morale. There are individual exceptions, of course.

"Then how do we improve morale around here?"

The only way I know of improving morale in a lasting way is getting your employees to believe that the future will be better. It sounds easy but it is challenging to accomplish.
Getting that belief requires having and clearly articulating a vision, explaining the relevance of each job in the context of that vision, understanding what the employee wants from his or her job (better life style, private schooling for the children, etc.) and showing them how their role in accomplishing the vision will help them get what they want.

It is all about hope founded on a clear vision and a realistic plan with personal relevance.

Other postings have identified the type environment in which this should occur.

Ray Williams
Vice President - Field Operations
The Edmond-Howard Network

If morale is low, its a fair bet that there is something wrong with the culture, and as others have stated, short term or one off attempts to remedy the problem will most likely fail. So, morale is the symptom, and culture the illness. The remedy is to look at the culture and work from there.
This then begs the question: what should the culture be? and for this, there is no single answer, as it depends on the nature of the business. The culture for a hi tech company will be different to that of, say, a research facility at a university. There are I think some basics that all workplace cultures should enjoy, obvious things like honesty, openness, support for failures, understood and demonstrated values, approachable and trustworthy leadership etc.
One of the things to avoid is doing things without belief or integrity, and beware of following a formulated process too lavishly. For example , all the leadership handbooks say you must 'praise people ', but to do this where praise is not due, simply to be able to say at the end of the day that you have handed out your daily quota of praise, will in fact have a demoralizing effect, praise should only be given when its genuinely earned and spontaneously, publically and honestly given as an immediate reaction.
As a leader, don't be afraid to trust your gut , and be yourself. Everyone can spot a phoney miles away!

I agree with Laura but I want to add that taking the time to get to know your employees and identifying their issues and addressing them before morale is at an all time low goes along way. One of the ways to achieve this and is very cost effective and highly motivational is to do Behavior and Strength Assessments that will identify their strengths and uncover their stress level. This leads to some positive discussions and lets your employees know that they are valued.
Debbie Darrah
Leveraging Behavior
debbie@leveragingbehavior.com