“Morale” is defined as “the mental and emotional condition of an individual or a group with regard to a task or goal to be accomplished”. Good, positive morale by staff and team members is an essential component of any business plan. Bad, negative morale can ruin a team and literally destroy a business.

Think about any workplace – or team or club or any other “community” for that matter—where negative attitudes reigned. We’ve all probably quit some teams or clubs because of it. Places that lack morale are not fun places to be and they typically aren’t very productive. In the workplace, happy employees are always more productive. When you enjoy coming to work and working together with a certain team, it’s a lot easier to show up and work hard.

Morale is built from the top down. An owner with a positive, “can do” attitude can assemble a stronger and more productive team. Managers with positive attitudes win over their employees. Not only are they more well liked, their teams produce more and work more efficiently. This positive attitude—in a word, morale—means so much more than seeing staff with smiles on their face. Staff feels better about coming to work and thus, come to work with ideas and optimism and a willingness to do more. So, what can you do to improve morale in the workplace?

There are strategies to boost and improve morale in the workplace and they are worth keeping in mind. These strategies include promoting work/life balance, team building, encouraging open communication and giving opportunities for professional growth and improvement. Here are some suggested strategies to incorporate into your corporate culture to improve and maintain good morale:

• Foster open communication: Keep the channels open between employees, their supervisors, and senior management/owners. Make sure the employees know that their superiors and superiors beyond are interested in how they feel and willing to listen and that there are no repercussions for questions, comments, and suggestions.
• Seek employee feedback: Employees are your “front line” when it comes to customer service and every position that is public facing has the potential to make or break your business. The employees who are in the trenches often have the most valuable ideas and insight. Seek it out and listen to them with an open mind.
• Employee recognition: Publicly acknowledge accomplishments by your staff. A simple “thank you” or “congratulations” works wonders. This is obvious with accomplishments that are work related, but also acknowledge personal and professional accomplishments outside work.
• Offer career development opportunities: Show a willingness to support career development. When an employee learns new skills and takes on new challenges, or when they advance their education, it benefits the company. Employees that avail themselves of these opportunities are the ones you want to advance within your company.
• Organize team building activities: Strengthening the team by allowing them to build their own bonds and relationships with each other strengthens the entire organization. Team building activities support that idea and help facilitate camaraderie.
• Provide employees with a healthy work/life balance: There are countless ways you can do this. Allow flexible scheduling, encouraging breaks and vacations, and respecting time outside the workplace are just a few examples.
• Celebrating birthdays and anniversaries: This is a simple but effective way to show employees they matter. I worked with a company that was owned by a father and son. The father described himself as “semi-retired” and the son was truly at the helm. The father’s job duties included taking each of the twenty or so employees to lunch on or around their birthday. The father talked about how it was the highlight of his week when he had a lunch scheduled with a staff member. He knew each of the employees and knew about their families, their hobbies, and their interests outside work. More importantly, the employees appreciated it and talked about what a great role model the man was and how much they liked going to lunch with him annually.
• Owner/management involvement in operations: These activities such as team building aren’t just for the general staff. Management all the way up the food chain should be involved and engaged. Their participation demonstrates the importance and how serious the company takes it.
• Share both bad and good news with staff: Transparency is important and appreciated. When there’s good news, share it with the team. They deserve to hear that their hard work is bearing fruit. When there’s bad news, let them know about it and solicit their help correcting and resolving the problem at hand.

Hopefully, your organization already has good morale. But keep these suggestions in mind and do what you can to build and keep morale trending upward.