Page 117 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

The High Price of Low Morale 97

• Use “I” statements when discussing a situation with a
defensive employee, such as “I’m concerned about some-
thing, Mary” or “I asked you about this a few days ago

and I have not heard anything on the status of the job.”
• Summarize and clarify to the best of your ability any
defensive remarks you hear at the time they occur. Ask
questions and don’t judge. Don’t argue.

• Encourage accountability.
• Accept that a person’s feelings, even if they seem unfair
or ungrounded to you, are real for that person.
• Express clearly that you want to understand the barriers
that obviously exist and to work to build an alliance of

support and mutual respect. Ask the employee to suggest
ways to do so.
• Offer to pay for your employee to take self-confidence or
esteem-building training. More and more organizations
are offering such training through their corporate univer-

sities or making it available through outside seminars
and retreats.
• Consider making this issue of improving self-esteem a
topic for your next department retreat or staff meeting.
Include everyone in the program so that no one is sin-

gled out.
• Most of all, as the manager, you have every right to ask
for and expect respect. Do it now.

Manager’s Morale Challenge #6: Fewer Resources

and/or More Demands

It’s a tough situation. Maybe the organization has cut staff

and budget. Maybe upper management keeps demanding
more of you and your employees. Maybe both. A natural
consequence is that employees are bound to suffer
burnout and become angry and that will affect morale. In
fact, morale can be so affected that you worry about get-
ting the work done.