The challenge of 2014: Sustaining morale

2014 will be a time of transition, certainly, and perhaps of upheaval. The recent health insurance mandates will kick into higher gear, affecting employees nationwide. Premiums and deductibles will rise while salaries, in many cases, will decline due to reduced hours. Add the traditional economic challenges to the widespread frustration and uncertainty, and it seems probable that the greatest managerial challenge of 2014 will be building and sustaining employee morale. This task will be made all the more difficult by the managers inability to offer perks and bonuses in a tight economy.

I have been fortunate enough to interview many successful business leaders challenged with profound morale issues: Israeli managers who had to support the flagging spirits of their teams through unrelenting terrorist attacks and American managers dealing with the effects of hostile takeovers, insidious rumor-mongering and persistent bad press.

The following are three not so obvious, long-term, morale building strategies from the pros.

Institute a mentoring program. Having a strong mentoring program may not strike one, immediately, as a morale-building strategy, but buoying the spirits of employees does not necessarily involve cheerleading. "Cheerleaders'' have no credibility in times of real angst; indeed, they seem pathetically out of touch. A veteran employee who has weathered many a storm and who acknowledges the gravity of the situation does have credibility.

The foundation of workplace morale is a sense of job security. When all else seems to be tumbling down, a guiding hand is reassuring. The nervous employee begins to see his job as something more than a way to pay the rent: A career, exemplified by the mentor, may be possible. Simple cheerleading cannot create this kind of slow-bum motivation.

Give them something to be proud o£ Engage in corporate-sponsored charitable works. An organization that provides the infrastructure for its employees to venture outside workplace boundaries into their own communities to do good works will win the gratitude of the volunteers, who couldn't have done it quite so well on their own. It takes resources to sponsor a neighborhood graffiti cleanup project or a tree planting campaign in a blighted area. The good news is that the labor is free of charge, happily provided by employees who appreciate the opportunity given to them to help others.

Companies that frequently are victims of bad press (Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, etc.) often are active in the community. Some of the motivation surely must be to put a friendly public face on the organization to counter negative media coverage. But the impact of these charitable projects on the employees, who can walk tall, pointing with pride to the good things their company has made possible, can be out of all proportion to the investment.

Always be truthful. Another moralesustaining strategy is to communicate truthfully with the rank and file, even ifespecially ifthe news is not good. Silence from senior leadership only adds to the anxiety of the workforce by seeming to confirm ominous rumors spreading like wildfire throughout the organization. "It must be true," we think, "or they would have denied it." Communication from the trusted leader of the organization is all important to employee morale because if not informed, the employees will inform themselves and the rumors will fly.

High morale often has less to do with bonuses and perks and more to do with knowing that "we are all in this together." When the CEO, as head of the family, is open and transparent, the employees will be more apt to close ranks in an effort to protect and perpetuate the company.

If not informed, the employees will inform themselves and the rumors will fly.

Dan Carrison, a business writer and consultant, has authored or co-authored four management books: Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way, Deadline! Flow Premier Organizations Win the Race against Time, Business Under Fire and From the Bureau to the Boardroom. Carrison is a general partner of Semper Fi Consulting and founder of www.ghostwritersinthesky.com. He also teaches corporate communication for the University of La Verne. He can be reached at [email protected].