Page 118 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

98 Building a High Morale Workplace

Let’s face it—in such circumstances, it’s just not a fun place
to work anymore. So what’s a manager to do? What’s the
answer to keeping employee morale and performance up when

employees are feeling down because of burnout, cutbacks, lay-
offs, increased demands, and insecurity about the future?
Open up your toolkit for some ways to deal with these situ-
ations.

Manager’s Toolkit
• When situations are ambiguous, employees want informa-

tion and plenty of warning of things to come. They also
want reasons and explanations. As the manager, you
must work harder to gather information from senior man-
agement about the future and then inform your staff. Get
specifics you can relay. Why were the changes made?

What’s likely to occur from this point forward?
• Try emphasizing the positive aspects of any major
changes that are going to impact your employees, such
as how employees will be trained in new technology or
how the new branding campaign will make the organiza-

tion more competitive in the marketplace.
• Listen to your employees. Spend time with them. You
don’t have to have all the answers; you just have to be
available.
• Get people to think forward and move forward. Tell

employees to forget the past and the way things used to
be. Focus on the here and now. Focus on creating a bet-
ter tomorrow even with these new constraints.
• Be realistic in setting performance and productivity goals

for your people. Discuss what’s possible.
• Make it a point to celebrate every success and achieve-
ment. Don’t shine the light on what didn’t get done. Set
people up for success, not failure.
• You’ll be expecting more from every employee, so you

must be willing to give more in return. Tell them so. Try to
help your employees find greater meaning and purpose in