Page 36 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

16 Building a High Morale Workplace

these pockets is essential, according to Hanson.
3. Understand that community starts at the grassroots, not
at the top. Hanson says that people feel much better

about themselves when the organization succeeds
because of them and not because management deemed
that the company was going to roll out some program that
employees would execute to management’s liking. For

example, when Grand Forks, North Dakota, was flooded
in 1997, the Land O’ Lakes team in that city pulled
together to control the damage. That experience became
the model for the kind of exceptional action a community-
oriented team can make possible.

4. Tell your employees when they’ve succeeded. Hanson
says you have to tell your
employees when they’ve
Creating More
Meaning made major strides and
accomplishments,
Professor Dan Hanson, for-
mer president of Land O’ Lakes Fluid- because people want to
Dairy Division, suggests that man- feel appreciated, to feel
agers start by discussing the undis- special.
cussable with their employees.Ask Since making his mark
employees what’s getting in the way at Land O’ Lakes and pub-
of relationships. Clear out all assump- lishing his successful man-
tions. Get to the heart of the matter
agement philosophies,
and find out which processes are
Hanson accepted an early
working and which ones aren’t. His
personal philosophy:“Feeling connect- retirement from the firm
ed to your work brings energy to the and is now a full-time pro-
workplace.” fessor of communications
at Augsburg College in
Minneapolis, where he continues to share with his students his
vision of happiness and fulfillment in the workplace.

Case Study: Craigslist—Boosting the Morale of an Entire City
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay area, just ask around and

you’ll find someone who’s participated in Craigslist
(www.craigslist.com). It’s the plugged-in place to be if you’re