Dear Yogesh,

How would you advise changing a can’t-do attitude to a can-do attitude when confidence is low? We have a history of silos and have had budget and staffing cuts throughout the firm. Could you help out?

Signed,

Salvaging

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Dear Salvaging,

Well, this is one of the challenging and worthy goals you have set. Building up morale is good and helps in improving performance and also changing lives. We have experienced and been a part of many positive turnarounds.

I do not have any idea about your institution, industry, history, or competitive environment. This shortage of information entirely means my recommendations will have to be basic. Here, the good news is that they will be applicable to a wide range of readers.

Here, I will go with the outside-in approach, at first looking for hurdles that obstruct the culture, and then at persuaders that could pull the institution in a suitable direction.

Commence by Addressing Barriers

This is one of the most effectual places to begin because a number of demotivating hurdles can release a pool of positivity. On the other hand, if you let obstacles stay, they produce negative stories, beliefs, and rumors. Individuals imagine the worst and start to question leaders’ purposes.

Organize a Listing Tour

Here, you can bring a group of decision-makers and have them organize listening tours. The group will have formal & informal leaders from all over the institution. The prime goal of the tour is to recognize patterns of issues that span regions and silos. The second goal is to locate leaders as listeners, as people who want to comprehend and eliminate barriers.

Ask every leader to organize one-on-one interviews and focus groups. Some guidelines for you: Always have the leaders interview individuals who do not report to the - people from other regions. Give the leaders training, so they use the interviews to listen and learn, rather than resolve issues. Have every leader organize four to five one-hour interviews & participate in two ninety-minute focus groups.

Make Public Problem - Solving Rituals

I support an altered version of GE’s ritual, the Work-Out. Choose the main barrier you found during the listening tour- a barrier that spans silos affects a lot of individuals and is demotivating. Bring the decision makers who can take positive action and have them discuss and resolve it in a time-limited workshop or series of workshops, while a bigger group of stakeholders observes. The aim is to get issues resolved in a way that exhibits responsive and decisive leadership. By calling this a “ritual” I am recommending that these workouts become an outgoing and regular segment of the institution.

Frame systems for information gathering

Basically, a listening tour is a good way to commence a change, but lasting change needs a manner to systemize the procedure. You require a way for people to speak up about their concerns in a positive way, or they will express them instead as negative, self-defeating stories. One way that works is to schedule regular, quarterly, focus groups with opinion leaders from all over the institution. You can make use of these meetings to surface concerns that have not been resolved through regular channels.

Magnify Existing Motivators

Reinforcing the connections that motivate individuals within the institution can also help. This entirely means investigating the aims that motivate the workforce and enriching the connections between their regular jobs and these purposes. We think it is useful to group objectives into the following 5 categories:

1. Themselves and their Loved Ones: People can search for meaning in the capability to earn the essentials and pleasures of life. They take delight in offering for their loved ones and themselves. For instance, the sales clerk uses extra energy because she has kids at home and depends on her.
    
2. Customers and their Impact on the World: Individuals can search for meaning in - the influence their work has on their customers and the big world. They take immense pride in achieving their firm’s mission. For instance, a nurse who attains accomplishment via the effect she has on patients’ lives.
    
3. Organization and Team: Individuals can search for meaning in their working relations, organization, and team. They take pleasure in being a vital player on a winning team. For instance, the office sees itself as a key player of a consistent team.
    
4. Development & Personal Growth: Individuals can attain meaning in personal growth as well as development. They take pleasure in making use of their talent to take up novel responsibilities and progress in their career. For instance, the engineer who masters novel programs and systems or takes up new errands to handle projects or individuals.
    
5. Tasks and Profession: People can search for meaning in the activities that make up their profession and job. They experience the happiness that comes with learning their craft. For instance, a teacher who loves being in her classroom, or a chef who loves to cook.

As leaders, our aim is to make these connections as transparent and satisfying as possible. Employees experience firm connections to all five of these values.

As you nurture these connections, start by looking for the values that have the feeblest and the strongest connections. At times, an incident or event can give birth to people losing connection to value. Look for the means to frame it. At times, one of the connections is strong but could be robust. You can look for methods to strengthen it.

Solidifying these connections can take numerous forms. Usually, you want to make the connections easier for the individuals to experience and see, as well as search for ways to prompt them of those connections during difficult times.

Best of luck,

Yogesh Sood

This blog is an adaptation of our International Partner’s blog- https://cruciallearning.com/blog/how-to-improve-employee-morale/