Episode 48: Is It Your Job to Fix Team Morale?

Hi everyone, welcome back to Everyday Leader. Shannon here with Conrad. Today we're going to talk about staff morale. We've been working with leaders and teams, and this comes up often. We want to break it down and share some inquiries for you to consider when those two words, “staff morale,” come up.

It may be different language: team morale or family morale. This is about a system or group of people and the energy present there. Even you saying it, Shannon, has me thinking it must not be good morale. It must be bad.

It feels heavy. You know you're going to have to unpack some things to understand what it means.

If this were a suitcase full of good or bad morale, or morale in general, where would you start unpacking? Where would you look?

Poor morale has an energy to it. I wonder about the energetic impact: what are you noticing as a result of it? I'd start there. There are usually behaviors, beliefs, or assumptions that go along with it. If I had compartments in this bag, those would be the compartments: what is the energy? What behaviors are you noticing? What beliefs and assumptions come with it? Those are the little packing cubes inside this bag.

Putting them all out on the table and looking at each piece of the system, or suitcase. I'm appreciating the unpacking and looking at each piece to get a diagnostic picture of the current state. Leaders may see morale is down, and they need to know the sources or state of each area.

Exactly. Some assessment needs to happen to get to the bottom of it.

That's one way: unpacking, assessment, looking at behaviors and the energy there. The other side is pointing to what is ideal. What are the values or purpose? Why do we exist as a team? That's another direction we've gone with clients. Analysis is a great idea, and also pointing to what needs to be reestablished in your values, mission, purpose, and who you are as a group, team, or staff.

That is key. What we know about morale in any relationship is that there are things we can control when it comes to improving it and things we cannot. Assessment helps us identify what we can do as leaders of a family, group, or team. Maybe I need to communicate better. Maybe there needs to be more transparency with other systems or elements of our organization. But there are things leaders cannot control. You cannot control somebody else's experience. I can do a lot to help people understand systems and how things work, but their experience is in their own court. We can get stuck by taking too much responsibility for that. We can redirect the tendency to fix everything and have off-the-charts morale scores, whatever that means, by inviting people into possibility and vision. Those elements can be energizing and provide avenues for fulfillment in the work or relationship.

It has that enrolling quality: let's look at what we can influence and how we look at the circumstances around us. As we do that, listen, invite, and include people in this vision, purpose, or mission that is greater than one individual.

Exactly.

It has forward momentum. When you hear this on your team or when working with others, you can do the analysis. Get curious about unpacking those elements and putting them on the table. What's not working in this system? Is there a policy that needs to change, a behavior, or something I need to do differently? Without taking too much responsibility, take responsibility for inviting people into what's important about being part of the team.

Something that can get sticky for purpose-driven and empathic leaders is feeling like they're asking people who have baggage, hurt feelings, healing, or something that needs to be cleaned up to forget about it and get excited about a new team culture. That would mean stepping over or not acknowledging the past. What we forget is that two things can be true. You can acknowledge the situation and take responsibility for your parts as a leader while also inviting people into the vision and culture that's possible for them to be part of.

I appreciate you taking a stand for not stepping over anything: bringing it to light and taking responsibility for your part, whatever that may be. Two things can be true, including moving the vision and culture forward. Don't step over things. Acknowledge, heal, reveal whatever needs to happen there, and go.

Exactly. What is this in a nutshell, Conrad? Can you land this with a personal example?

In my family system, there are times when we're engaged in life, doing our own things, and morale can get flat or neutral. For me, the first thing is to be aware of it, acknowledge it, and create space to be in conversation with my family, to have it be revealed and seen. Then come back to what's important for us as a family. Those are the first three pieces: be aware, acknowledge, and make space. If that space isn't created, it's tough for there to be a shift or recommitment to purpose. We hadn't mentioned the space before. That came up as you invited a personal example from my family system.

I love that. The space isn't necessarily a whole bunch of answers or a solution, or a big closet full of board games. I don't know the exact situation, but it's allowing it. What happens when you become aware of it and acknowledge it? Those two things alone.

Those are the key first pieces so there can be a shift forward, toward whatever needs to be committed to or reconnected with.

I wish we could all appreciate that as leaders. When something isn't going right or there's a morale issue, being aware of it and acknowledging it are huge moments for a team, family, or any relationship. I see leaders minimizing that: “I'm aware of it, and I've acknowledged it, but now I have this huge hill to climb to fix all of it.” You actually did the hardest part: knowing it was there and acknowledging it. You've already shifted something. It isn't everything, but it's something.

Yes. May we all remember that.

All right, Conrad. Thanks again. Thanks, everyone, for listening. We'll see you next time.

We will.