Page 35 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

Business on Planet Earth, No Longer as We Know It 15

meaning in work, they didn’t seem to be shining, and there was
an energy missing.”
So Hanson took on something of a personal crusade for

developing the essence of caring and community in the work-
place. Hanson had battled cancer and that experience became
the catalyst for building a more caring and people-oriented work
environment for his employees. “It gave me a sense of

urgency,” says Hanson. “I knew I had to rediscover the meaning
of my work.” Hanson took his philosophies even further and
wrote two books on the subject: A Place to Shine: Emerging
from the Shadows at Work (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996),
and Cultivating Common Ground: Releasing the Power of

Relationships at Work (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997).
Hanson knows that when employees don’t find meaningful
purpose or meaningful relationships in their work, it’s not their
fault. The problem isn’t with the people, he contends. It’s with
an oppressive work environment that stifles morale and creativi-

ty. Hanson says that managers who want to foster internal com-
munities must restructure their organizations and change how
employees interrelate. His philosophy: “Feeling connected to
your work brings energy to the workplace.”
Hanson then initiated this four-step action plan to prop up

morale and turn things around in his division:

1. Find out why people feel alienated. Hanson decided to
address both the organizational and the personal work-
place problems. His belief is that the organization cannot
grow in a positive and healthy direction unless it first

treats its employees like people.
2. Identify pockets of wellness and cultivate a feeling of com-
munity among employees. To foster the feeling of internal
community at Land O’Lakes, Hanson identified what he

calls “pockets of wellness.” In other words, even if the orga-
nization’s system is sick and dysfunctional to some degree,
there are always people within the system who are doing
things right, employees who feel connected to their work
and create positive energy and high morale. Uncovering