Page 50 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

30 Building a High Morale Workplace

are 10,000 miles away, they will feel 10,000 miles away. But if
you treat people like they are within a moment’s reach, then
they will feel that way too.

One effective management technique to include people is
to ask your employees to come up with a list of all the benefits
of working in a virtual environment. This will give you fast
insight into the strengths the team perceives in this new work-

place reality and which teams are making the most of it all.
Next, ask workers to share with you a list of the special chal-
lenges that they confront by being part of a long-distance team.
So, for example, if a number of team members say that getting
together once a month would be helpful to them, then look into

the availability of a virtual meeting room where hundreds of
workers from all corners of the globe can meet each month
without leaving their desks.
By taking time to evaluate the pros and cons of a virtual
workplace, you can begin to clarify the challenges and develop

your strengths for leading and motivating people from afar.

Meet Me in Cyberspace

If you’re a manager in a large organization, you may already be
leading teams and building employee morale in cyberspace.

Many networked teams in big companies are doing this by way
of their organization’s local area network (LAN). But there’s also
an easier way to manage cyber teams and the size of your
organization doesn’t matter. Managers are now bypassing the
LAN and working directly on the Internet with their employees.
After all, the Internet is the biggest and best network available,

so why not use it to help create camaraderie, build relation-
ships, and improve employee morale in Poughkeepsie from as
far away as Beijing?
Globalization doesn’t mean that one-on-one personal atten-

tion and caring will be less important. It’s just the opposite.
High-tech management will require high-touch human compas-
sion and guidance more than ever before.