I Was Sentenced to 5 Years at The Office! - Employee Morale

Employee morale is yet another issue that is talked about a lot, but rarely addressed effectively. Organizational culture plays into morale and engagement so deeply that the process of improving morale can be a long, tough road.

Here are just a handful of things that should be considered in trying to elevate morale:

- Create an environment that's fun and lively. If your work environment resembles a prison more than a theme park, employees probably aren't excited about their surroundings.
- Carefully evaluate your management style. Is it facilitating in nature or is it dictatorial or overly assertive and direct.
- Encourage employees to come forward with problems, suggestions and issues. Listen carefully and acknowledge their concerns. Follow up on them and communicate results of your findings back to them. Don't leave them hanging.
- Address compensation and benefits to make certain that you're at least competitive with the market.
- Be consistent in how you administer rules and policies.
- Be fair and reasonable with all employees.
- Set expectations for employees about team work and working cooperatively. Let it be known that you expect employees to get along while on the job. Morale can be impacted heavily by fellow employees who don't work and play well with others.
- Be clear in your expectations and follow up when they aren't met.
- Don't ignore low performers. If they can't become good employees, terminate them. Bad employees affect those around them.
- Don't allow double standards. What's good for one employee is good for all of them.
- Eliminate a punitive mentality. Don't make employees feel that they will be punished if they make mistakes. Accountable, yes. Punished in some manner, no.
- Encourage innovation and creativity.
- Show employees that you care about them. Taking an appropriate personal interest in employees lets them know you care about them as people and not just as worker bees.
- Communicate as much as possible to all employees. Keep them well informed about what's going on in the organization.
- Look at the work environment. Is it light and airy or is it dark, dreary and counterproductive? Does it seem lively or more like a morgue? Don't underestimate the impact of decor.

How Much Does Your Organization Really Care?

Organizational cultures come in all shapes and sizes yet only a handful really work in terms of employee engagement and retention. A lot of studies have been done on why employees stay and why they leave companies. The results present a number of plausible reasons why they do both.

Our experience and observation in working with thousands of organizations would lead us to believe that one very important central and simple common theme seems to exist in those that retain employees at a high level. That theme is centered on a high degree of caring about the well being of the employees.

Oh sure, most companies will tell you they care. But, with a limited number of exceptions, who do they think they're kidding? The level of real caring in most companies ranges from "who gives a you-know-what" to "we care quite a bit, but just don't know how to show it".

But in a small percentage of organizations, from the top rung of the ladder all the way to the bottom, there is a genuine and real sense of caring about and for employees. When there is a culture built on genuine concern for employees, all kinds of good things happen. Employee engagement is strong, retention is high, productivity tends to be off the charts, and people just seem to get along better.

These organizations are careful about who they hire to lead employees. They understand that the managers have to be compassionate, caring, and nurturing while still having the ability to hold employees responsible for high levels of performance. These managers aren't afraid of developing relationships with employees. Those relationships sustain employee satisfaction even when difficult issues have to be addressed.

What's amazing is just how many organizations and/or managers just don't care about their employees in any meaningful way. They are much more interested in the short-term and in extracting as much work out of the employee as possible.

Here's a quick test of this theory on caring about employees. The next time you're in a social setting with people from various work backgrounds, ask them if they think their employer or manager really and truly cares about them as a person. Sure, some will say yes when they mean no. But you might find the answers you get interesting. Then take a look around your own organization. Does it care? Do you care?

Managers in the Danger Zone

There is a natural tendency on the part of some people to think that what they do is more important than what others do in an organization. Many of these people are simply egomaniacs who live in a fantasy world of sorts where they are in some way superior to everyone else.

We talk a lot about leaving the excess ego at the door when you come to work in the morning. The problem is that it is nearly impossible for these egomaniacs to do that. Some research suggests out of control egos probably stem from some form of insecurity and the individual is likely trying to cover up for that insecurity.

A manager with a big ego and a penchant for flaunting that ego is a dangerous person in any organization. When an ego controls the behavior of a manager, all sorts of trouble tends to follow. Employees and co-workers are generally impacted in some negative manner on an all too frequent basis.

Frankly, employees working for the egomaniac grow tired of the boorish behavior. They are often blamed for problems not created by them and the manager's communication is often belittling and condescending in nature. Now there's a recipe for disengagement and reduced productivity!

A little ego is not necessarily a bad thing since it helps with confidence levels. But to allow an ego to run out of control to the point where the manager has to have that ego constantly fed is unacceptable.

People with runaway egos often are in denial about their behavior. They see themselves as tremendous employees or managers with few, if any, faults. The result of this type of attitude is resentment at best. Employees will be less likely to open up to the ego-centric employee and will often try to undermine them or work against them to show them up. Ego can have a devastating effect on team work and productivity.

A manager with a giant ego will often alienate employees. Big egos can lead to lashing out at employees to make a point. And the ego can force managers and owners to make decisions that feed the ego. Those decisions might be good for the individual's self-image, but bad for the organization in one or more ways.

If you look around your organization, do you see managers with ego issues? What has been done to address those issues? Unfortunately in some cases, the egomaniac is not coached or resists coaching because he has all the answers. In those cases, the likelihood of getting them turned around is not high.

In the context of performance management, 360 degree surveys are a great tool to help highlight core issues for any manager. In the case of the manager with an out of control ego, 360 degree surveys will usually generate a plethora of feedback that can be used for coaching and/or documentation of the problems.

In terms of performance reviews conducted by the egomaniacal manager, competency level and overall ratings tend to be lower. Why? We suspect it is a defense mechanism to push blame for departmental or work unit underperformance back onto the employees. This provides a sort of defense that the manager can point to as if to say, "hey it's not me, it's my underperforming employees".

Needless to say, dealing with these ego-centric managers is critical in any organization. Is your organization the victim of one or more of these egomaniacs?

How Do You Spell Morale?

Employee morale is not something to be taken lightly. According to the Harvard Management Update, in roughly 85% of companies, employees' morale declines sharply after their first 6 months on the job and it continues to deteriorate for years afterward.

Getting employees motivated is a commonly heard theme in organizations. But the real problem appears to lie in stopping those same organizations from demotivating their employees. When morale declines as much as is suspected in so many organizations, there is something amiss in how the employees are being managed and interacted with.

Managers, supervisors, and executive management often unwittingly damage employee morale little by little by saying and doing things that rub employees the wrong way. Stopping that behavior is sometimes easier said than done. But it can be managed.

Here are some things that seem to impact morale positively:

- Create an environment that is fun and lively.
- Carefully evaluate your management style. Is it facilitating in nature or is it dictatorial or overly assertive and direct.
- Encourage employees to come forward with problems, suggestions and issues. Listen carefully and acknowledge their concerns. Follow up on them and communicate results of your findings back to them. Don't leave them hanging.
- Address compensation and benefits to make certain that you are competitive with the market.
- Be consistent in how you administer rules and policies.
- Be fair and reasonable.
- Set expectations for all employees about team work and working cooperatively. Let it be known that you expect employees to get along while on the job.
- Be clear in your expectations and follow up when they aren't met. Don't ignore low performers. If they can't become good employees, terminate them. Bad employees affect those around them.
- Don't allow double standards. What's good for one employee is good for all of them.
- Eliminate a punitive mentality. Don't make employees feel that they will be punished if they make mistakes.
- Encourage innovation and creativity.
- Show employees that you care about them.
- Communicate as much as possible to all employees. Keep them well informed about what's going on in the business. Provide quality feedback regularly.
- Look at the work environment. Is it light and airy or is it dark, dreary and counterproductive?
- Complete performance reviews on time and in a thorough and accurate manner.
- Keep promises and follow through.

These are all reasonable expectations and behaviors within a culture of high morale and high productivity. The impact on morale by doing these things consistently can be dramatic. Look around your organization and see how often these things are actually happening with a high degree of regularity. If they aren't, the culture isn't supporting or requiring them. It's time to start changing that culture.

Know Any Chickens?

We all know managers who just don't have the intestinal fortitude to bring performance issues to the attention of their employees when needed. These "chickens" aren't doing themselves, their employees, or the organization any favors. Far from it, in fact.

The damage done by these managers is almost unforgivable. Believe it or not, most employees actually want to know when their performance isn't living up to expectations. To ignore or soft-sell performance issues creates a culture lacking appropriate accountability. And there is an ongoing deterioration of productivity and effectiveness that impacts overall success.

We all know these kinds of managers. Some classify them as being afraid of confrontation, but the reality is that most performance discussions are not confrontational at all. What they really boil down to are opportunities....coaching opportunities. So we'll just say they're "coaching averse"

There are some real tell-tale signs involved when a manager is coaching averse. Here are just a few:

- Communication is more often than not in written form as opposed to verbal. Whether it is by email or memo or whatever, the manager prefers to communicate in writing without discussion. This is true particularly when the topic is touchy.
- Marginal employees or employees with bad attitudes are allowed to continue unabated in their employment. In other words, the chicken won't fire bad employees.
- Performance reviews for all employees are at least acceptable by most standards. Because a performance review is intended to reinforce, document, and formalize performance, the chickens just can't bring themselves to mark down performance because they know they'll have to deliver the news personally.
- Employees get away with murder...well not literally, but figuratively speaking they sure do. Negative behavior and subpar productivity is tolerated. The impact of this behavior on other employees is disastrous over time.

The adage about employees leaving managers and not companies sure seems to play itself out a lot. Managers obviously have a direct positive, negative or neutral impact on employees. The "chickens" we address in this article have such a detrimental effect on employees that they usually lose many of their best employees leaving the bad ones in place. When left unchecked, this pattern really turns things upside down for the work unit involved.

Organizations have to be on the lookout for the chicken and then hold them accountable for changing their approach and behavior. In most cases, it's a lost cause, but there are some success stories. Let's just hope the chicken's boss is not another chicken.

The Direct Approach

All too often, managers are reluctant to clearly and concisely communicate concerns they have with their employees' performance. Some try to sugar coat everything and others just simply stumble and fumble with getting their points across.

Whether it is in an informal meeting to address issues or during a formal review, the importance of being crystal clear and instructive about any performance issues that need addressed cannot be overstated. Trying to avoid hurting an employee's feelings is not the job of a manager. Certainly care must be taken in how messages are delivered, but failing to be direct and to the point in a constructive manner leads to confusion and can lead to a lack of respect for the manager. Generally speaking, employees would much rather hear exactly what it is they need to improve upon than hear a watered down version.

In order to incrementally improve performance, employees need to have a precise understanding of what is expected of them and the level at which those expectations are being met, being exceeded or not being met. Supporting information, data or documentation is also helpful to employees so that they will feel that the issues being raised aren't of an arbitrary nature and that some form of measurement against expectations is taking place.

When preparing written performance reviews, managers should think in terms of what they want the employee to come away from the review with. Ratings need to be supported with comments that support the ratings in a way that lets the employee feel that the ratings are justified. Being unclear or watering down the issue will not leave the employee with a good feeling about the review process.

Being direct doesn't mean being offensive or critical. It means being fair with employees by telling them exactly what needs attention and why and how behaviors may need to change. Learning to communicate bad news in a positive and instructive manner can be an art. As a manager, work hard to master that art and you will gain the respect and admiration of your employees.

The Manager-Employee Relationship

You have to wonder how managers who believe they can operate in a vacuum and treat their employees like second class citizens survive as long as they do in most organizations. Unfortunately there are a lot of managers who fit this description at least to some degree.

Employees who have a solid working relationship with their managers are usually much more engaged, have higher levels of overall job and cultural satisfaction, and meet or exceed goals consistently. Those who don't tend to struggle with remaining enthused about their job and the organization.

Good managers work to foster positive and strong relationships with their employees. What are some of the things they do to develop that type of relationship? Here are a few things that come to mind:

- They know when and how to assert themselves.
- They introduce some fun into the work environment.
- They care about their employees.
- They listen and actually hear what the employees are saying.
- They help employees become better employees.
- They recognize employees for big and little achievements.
- They go to bat for their employees.
- They give employees the tools they need to do their jobs.
- They are unselfish.
- They take pride in seeing their employees advance.
- They take an appropriate interest in the employee...they get to know them.
- They are realistic about what can reasonably be accomplished.
- They catch employees doing things well and praise when appropriate.

This list is not all-inclusive, but it gives you an idea how managers develop excellent relationships with their employees. Keep these in mind at all times and work hard to build positive and strong relationships. The payoffs will be tremendous.

Self-Awareness as a Competency

We've all seen it haven't we? That employee with good intellect that just seems to irritate people and continually struggle to gain acceptance within the organization.

It's not uncommon to find employees who have had plenty of good coaching, training and help for whatever reason just flat out self-destruct right before our eyes. These are employees who have the brains and skills to do the job, but just can't get along with others or are in some way more than slightly disruptive to their team.

Let's face it, just being smart in no way translates into being a good employee. One relatively recent study by Leadership IQ found that 46% of new hires failed within the first 18 months of being hired. That statistic is certainly organization-dependent, but with a number that high across so many organizations involved in the study it illustrates that being a good employee is harder than it may seem.

Some of these employees are even great at the technical part of their jobs. But in terms of fitting in, they're a mess. So on the one hand we have a great worker, and on the other hand a terrible co-worker. I have a friend who calls employees with excellent technical skills, but lousy interpersonal skills 'organizational terrorists'. Of course, that doesn't mean they are a threat to fellow employees. It simply means they can be very disruptive of their work surroundings and more than just a little frustrating to their fellow employees.

Over the years, we come to learn that people really do come in all sorts of personality packages. Based on my experience dealing with these types of employees, it seems to boil down to very often a substantial to complete lack of self-awareness. In other words, they just do not understand how they are behaving and how much their behavior is impacting others. Unfortunately in a lot of cases these employees can't be coached to become enough more self-aware to save them from eventually having to leave the organization.

One such employee that I once had the "pleasure" of managing looked at me during a coaching session and said "I just can't help it that I'm so rude and annoying." And you know what, she was probably right. Those tendencies were so deeply ingrained into her personality that no matter how much I coached her, she could only get along with others for so long before she slipped back into those old habits and figuratively speaking ripped someone's head off. Needless to say, she was terminated. The sad part of that story is that she was also one of the very best technical employees I've ever employed.

But there are opportunities to coach self-awareness and to make self-awareness a key competency in your performance reviews. Everyone in the organization needs to understand the importance of being self-aware and display behaviors that reflect self-awareness.

Think about your employees for a minute or two and mentally rank them on a scale of 1to 5 (5 being highest) in terms of how self-aware you think they are. You might be surprised at how many of the employees need to work on their self-awareness skills.

Inventory Your Employees Regularly

The title of this article sounds cold and impersonal. But it's not meant to be. You and your people are the number one key to the success, or failure, of your business or work unit. Taking inventory of your employees simply means taking stock of the quality of your people in order assess:
1) how well you have been hiring,
2) how well you have been training them,
3) how well they are being managed and
4) how healthy your company is likely to be.

We readily recognize that virtually all businesses of any size have some marginal performers. Our definition of a high performing employee is someone who consistently meets or exceeds reasonable, but demanding expectations. Think about your business or work unit in terms of the performance level of your employees. How many would qualify under this definition? Marginal and weak employees are defined as those who consistently fail to meet reasonable, but demanding expectations. Also, there are employees that seem to have potential to be high performers, but tend to fall just short of qualifying as high performers for whatever reason(s). They are the employees that meet or exceed expectations most of the time but slide back occasionally. Then there are those that seem to drift between high performance and marginal perfromance more often and, therefore, fall into the category of inconsistent performers.

Other categories in which to place employees are:
1) those who have been promoted beyond their ability and are struggling in their current job, but performed well in their previous position and
2) people who have been promoted and have not proven themselves in any capacity within the organization.
The latter category is especially perplexing, but does exist in many organizations because these employees have either played the right games or because management hasn't recognized or has ignored important deficiencies in performance.

So how should you go about inventorying employees? It will require either you or a group of people objectively evaluating your people based on the definitions offered above. Then we suggest doing an actual head count for each of the following categories:

High performers.
Potential high performers.
Inconsistent performers.
Marginal or weak performers who will never be high performers.
Employees that have been promoted beyond their ability and have virtually no chance of being high performers in their current position, but could be in another position with the company.
Employees that have been promoted beyond their ability and have not proven they can be high performers in any capacity within the company.
Ok, so you've done the head count. Now what? First of all, what does your inventory reveal about the quality of your work force? Does your company seem to be top heavy in marginal or inconsistent performers? What percentage of all employees are high performers or potential high performers? We like to use the 95/5 rule in terms of performance. Our philosophy is that businesses should strive to have 95 percent of their employees legitimately fall into the high performer or potential high performer categories. Without question, there are few organizations that can legitimately claim that they meet this target. It is our belief that to hit this target, businesses must do a lot of things very well in terms of hiring, training and managing employees.

Most businesses don't do all three of these things consistently well enough to reach the 95% target. And most businesses don't do a good enough job of "cleansing" themselves of employees that simply don't have a good chance of becoming high performers in the jobs they hold. In fact, we would argue that there are too many organizations where the ratio is reversed. In other words they have 5% of their employee base represented by high or potentially high performers with the others falling into the other categories. And there are many more companies that fall somewhere in between this level and the desired target. How does your company or work unit stack up?

Training Won't Always Help

Employees that are miscast for their jobs will rarely be able to turn around their performance. Trying to make these employees perform consistently at acceptable levels will be like trying to drive a square peg into a round hole. All the training in the world will probably not help enough to make him/her perform sufficiently.

Training is an absolute necessity for people who are appropriately placed into jobs they can perform. The sad truth is that too many employees are hired into jobs they stand little or no chance of being successful in. With these employees, spending a lot of time and money on training is simply a futile effort. Many managers will try to "force" the employee to fit the job because they don't want to admit they made a bad hire. It's preferable to admit to bad hires as opposed to pouring money into training them. We all make them from time to time. The intent, however, is to minimize the number of employees hired who can't do the jobs they are hired for.

Employees are rarely a perfect fit for the positions hired for. The degree to which an employee "fits" the position will determine degree of success. It also helps determine the amount of training required to enhance the job fit. However, an employee that is a poor fit to begin with generally can't be trained to be a good fit. Employees who are initially a good fit to a position by meeting acceptable standards for a particular job relative to ability, interests and personality can often be coached and trained to higher levels of performance within that position.

The point of this Business Brief is to help managers and owners understand and accept the fact that some employees simply can't be trained to become adequate to high performers in the jobs they currently hold. If an employee doesn't have the ability to perform appropriately in a particular job, don't waste money and time training him/her. Take the appropriate measures to terminate the employee or move them into a position they can perform well in.

Learn Front Line Jobs

The more you know about the operations of your business, the easier it will be to make informed decisions. Spend some time working side-by-side with your front line employees to gain a better understanding of what they go through each day and to get a better feel for the processes they undertake. This knowledge will help when focusing on process refinement and when making operational decisions. Also, you will gain the perspective of your customers and have an opportunity to identify problems with customer service.

Don't Use "Empowerment" As An Excuse Not To Manage

The term "empowerment" is thrown around a lot in business circles. It is intended to convey a transfer of decision making authority to lower levels within the organization. However, too many managers use it to hide behind and not manage their people. They believe that they are empowering their people by leaving them alone for the most part. But accountability must remain in place even with some degree of decision making authority being conveyed to lower levels withing the business. Without accountability for performance, empowerment does nothing more than create a very loose environment in which little gets accomplished.Thursday March 1, 2001.

Think With Your Head, Not Your Heart

It is often difficult to discipline an employee that we like. Some employees have a way of making their way into a manager's heart which can make the manager's job difficult when it comes time to deal with problems surrounding that employee. A manager certainly must show compassion and concern for employees' welfare and development. But there is a significant difference between compassion and concern and allowing problems to slide.

When it comes to employee issues, try to think with your head rather than your heart. Thinking logically through an issue as opposed to allowing emotions to drive one's thinking is critical to making good decisions in terms of employee issues.

When you are faced with an issue involving an employee, try very hard to forget about whether you like or dislike that employee. When emotion is allowed to creep into employee issues, inconsistency in how problems are resolved can set in. A mature manager is able to establish a positive relationship with employees without jeapordizing the ability to be assertive and direct and coach and counsel employees in dealing with performance or attitude problems.

Some employees are adept at getting close to people and know which buttons to push to get their way. Others are much less people-oriented and don't tend to develop a strong relationship with their supervisors. This is simply human nature and everyone has a different personality profile. To hold an employee's inability to make a manager feel good about them against the employee is immature and unprofessional. Because an employee is outgoing and knows how to "play the game" should never be a reason to favor one employee over another.

Base decisions and attitudes about employees on performance, not on whether or not you like them. If an employee has a positive attitude and is a high performer, but hasn't endeared him/herself to a manager, is it fair to treat that employee differently than someone who has the ability to get close to people? Certainly not.

Are you getting too close to certain employees. Do you treat people consistently? Do you let emotion play into your perception of an employee's performance?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, step back and rethink your approach to dealing with employees. Try to establish consistency in how you treat employees. Deal with performance or other problems without emotion and think with your head, not your heart.

Managers' Self-Assessment Questionnaire

In assessing a manager's ability to manage people, we believe it is important for a manager or supervisor to step back and look introspectively at their ability to direct the efforts of others as well as think about the environment they operate within. The following brief questionnaire is for your use in carrying out this type of self-assessment. Please respond to each question as honestly and objectively as possible in order to provide yourself with an accurate reflection of your situation.

1. I believe that I am an effective manager. True or False

2. My employees would say that I am an effective manager. True or False

3. I feel comfortable in my role of managing people. True or False

4. My ego does not get in the way of making sound, logical decisions. True or False

5. I am a good leader of people. True or False

6. My people are high performers. True or False

7. I have confidence in my people to meet my expectations of them. True or False

8. I have confidence in my own abilities. True or False

9. I understand what is expected of me. True or False

10. My people understand clearly what is expected of them. True or False

11. There is a cohesive, team-oriented atmosphere in my company, department or work unit.
True or False

12. I deal with problem situations and employees in an expedient manner and don't ignore them. True or False

13. My attitude is positive. True or False

14. I am a good communicator. True or False
15. I set an appropriate example for my employees. True or False

16. I establish clear expectations for all of my people. True or False

17. My people feel good about working for me. True or False

18. My people regularly come forward with ideas, problems or suggestions. True or False

19. I would rather deal with people than numbers or things. True or False

20. I look forward to coming to work in the morning. True or False

21. I am effective in coaching my people to higher levels of performance. True or False

22. I would describe my management style in the following way:

23. My biggest day-to-day challenge is:

24. These are my concerns about my people in terms of their ability to meet my expectations:

25. My strengths and weaknesses as a manager are:

26. I feel that I need to improve in the following areas in order to become a better manager:

27. I would describe the culture in my work unit in the following way:

28. My three biggest frustrations as a manager are:

29. My people would describe me as:

30. I currently hold my people accountable for meeting expectations in the following manner:

31. If I could define my ideal job, it would be:

32. The one thing I enjoy most about my job is:

33. The one thing I enjoy least about my job is:

34. My personal goals for the next year are:

35. My personal goals for the next five years are:

Strive for Higher Levels of Productivity

Employee productivity is one of the most important factors in overall profitability. When employees are highly productive, products and services are sold at a faster rate, overtime is reduced, staffing is kept lean and the customer is more satisfied. Productivity is often overlooked as a key variable in enhancing profitability. This web site includes a number of articles dealing with this issue.

Productivity is directly related to the quality of employees hired and the management of those employees. Establish productivity standards and expectations for all functional areas within your company and then measure performance against those standards/expectations. Identify the key productivity indicators that you will measure. These indicators can be any units of measure that makes sense for your business. But the important thing to keep in mind is that productivity isn't something to merely talk about. It must be measured and managed. And employees should be evaluated and rewarded based on their level of productivity.