Page 138 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

118 Building a High Morale Workplace

There’s another thing that Lois could have done early on to
maintain morale and keep this productive employee. She could
have assessed her employees’ needs and wants on the job. If

more supervisors and managers would do this up front, they
would save themselves a lot of time, money, and turnover.
When managers ask up front what employees need to be
more productive, perform at peak levels, and keep morale high,

guess what? Employees will tell them! It’s not a secret. Can you
imagine how you might have felt if your manager would have
asked you these questions early on in your career? Would you
have felt more valued as a worker? Would being asked these
questions have given you a sense of being cared about? Would

you have felt special and more enthusiastic about your job as a
result? If your answers are yes, then you’ve just validated the
importance of assessing employees’ needs early in the game.

Turn Employees On with This Easy Assessment

Use the assessment tool, “What Matters Most to You?” to deter-
mine what motivates each employee and what each employee
considers most meaningful. When you know what matters most

to an employee, you can keep the momentum going and keep
morale high. Then you can prevent problems.
But you won’t know if you don’t ask! So have your employ-
ees complete the assessment.

What Matters Most to You?
Ask employees to assign a number to each item listed in terms of what
motivates them and keeps their morale consistently high, using a scale
from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest).Then, after they’ve each rated all the
items, ask them to narrow the list down to their top three. Finally, after
they’ve each picked their top three, have them select and circle the sin-
gle most important morale booster from their top three picks—and
prepare to be surprised at what really motivates your workers.
4 3 2 1 1. My manager showing care and concern for me as a
person
4 3 2 1 2. Good working relationship with my manager
4 3 2 1 3. Feeling empowered