Raise Employee Morale

By Rodney Hall, The Talon Group

So, what can a company do to promote employee satisfaction today, given the current market environment? The answers are diverse:

• Study up on motivation. More than a few respondents cited Abraham Maslow's Theory of Human Motivation and Frederick Herzberg's Motivational Theory. Both provide great insights into what drives your team.
• Hire the right people from the start. Look for people with a healthy, optimistic outlook on life. These are candidates who enjoy serving others; who use "we" when describing successes and "I" when describing failures; who take ownership of things that need to get done; and who are the least likely to pass the buck down the line when a homeowner complains. They're more anxious to delight the customer, too.
• Manage better and more clearly. Several respondents noted that employee satisfaction comes from challenging people, empowering them with decision-making authority and being held accountable for the results. Employee satisfaction was higher among teams who worked for "demanding but fair" supervisors over "nice guys."
• You can't over-communicate. "Keep people informed on a weekly basis." "Be open and honest." "Tell the truth." Companies are not doing anyone a favor by sparing the details, no matter how bad they may be. Warns one builder: "Withholding information leads to rumors and speculation on worst-case scenarios, which are usually worse than the reality."
• Have a plan and stick to it. Once you've communicated that the sky is falling, be ready to share a survival plan. This shifts the employees' focus from the problem to the solution. Remind everyone — daily if necessary — to focus on the job at hand. One builder described it as a Zen-like focus: "Be here now and use your energy on the things you can control today, not on what you can't control."
• Take your own medicine. Don't ask your team to go the extra mile if you aren't willing to do the same, regardless how much you control their destiny.
• Loudly celebrate the small wins along the way. To paraphrase Bonnie Raitt, let's "give them something to talk about" — something positive.