How to increase your team’s energy at work.
Let’s just be honest, most employees are not excited to go to work. Also, they most likely are not passionate about what they do.
The best way to determine this: if they won the lottery tomorrow, would they continue to work on your team? Probably not. But you? Most likely since this is your passion and you are the visionary!
Once we better understand our teams desires, we can see the gaps in where we need to support them so they have a healthy and thriving work life.
There are 4 key components to growing your team's morale:
Communication
Ownership
Recognition
Delegation
These components also happen to be Hugs N Hustle’s framework for magnetic company culture! They are the main C.O.R.D. of the business.
COMMUNICATION
The Problem: there is usually a lack of communication in low morale teams. Specifically, on HOW to communicate effectively.
It’s never really what we say, but how we say it.
The Solution: get your team in some communication trainings. Provide the resources for learning how to navigate workplace conflict. Bring in experts, get in coaching and training yourself. The list goes on! If you are a woman leading a team, let’s partner up on this!
There will absolutely be resistance at first, especially if you’ve not done team learning or been intentional on doing it consistently before. But here’s a secret: people will follow what they see.
If you, the leader, set the example and make a change in your own communication first, the team will be more likely to follow through. Always lead by example.
OWNERSHIP
The Problem: employees can be resistant to owning their mistakes for fear of disappointing the leader and possibly even being fired.
We’ve all had that boss before: reactive, cold, threatening and only wanting perfection. Most of the time the reason we became an entrepreneur was to avoid these people!
The solution: invite failure, mistakes and hiccups while simultaneously providing support, feedback and tools to improve.
This approach builds trust and allows you to truly shine as a leader by supporting your team.
When everyone on the team can own their mess ups, the team starts to trust each other more.
When they trust each other more, they start to assume the best in others.
When they assume the best in others, small misunderstandings don’t escalate to conflict. Instead they fizzle out and dissipate.
When there’s less conflict, there is more workplace enjoyment.
Which increases productivity and team morale.
RECOGNITION
The Problem: there is no system in place to reward, recognize or commend team members. If there is, it’s plain, vague and usually how the leader likes to receive “love”
We often give love how we want to receive it. Which is why there are so many misunderstandings in the world.
The Solution: learning your teams love languages and being intentional on asking what and how they want to be rewarded.
The five love languages are words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, receiving gifts and acts of service.
The best example is dating. You could be giving flowers to someone who just wants you to do the damn dishes. Or showing physical affection to someone who just wants you to say “I love you” more often.
It’s never safe to assume, always ask and then follow through.
DELEGATION
The Problem: “no one does it like me, it’s hard to trust my team” attitude will keep you in the codependent cycle fooorrrreeevvveerrrrrr. (see issue no 1 for more on codependent teams)
Trust IS hard. But only because it takes time and intention to build it, and one mess up to destroy it.
Try to shift this thinking into: trust with my team is not fragile, it can withstand a failure along the road to building more trust.
The Solution: practice the 3 D’s of trust in your team
Document. What do you do that makes it unique and satisfactory?
Delegate. Looking at your process, where can you anticipate a struggle, confusion or mis-execution to get ahead of it?
Detach. What do I need to support myself through this process of releasing control?
This stuff takes time, consistency and intention. There is no quick fix, you’ve got to show up for your team every day and do the damn work! We are here to support you in leadership.
If it’s not us, find a community or coach to help support you and guide you through this journey. Managing people is not easy, but you absolutely have the power to make the change you want to see in you and your team!
