When naming my coaching business, Coaching Con Brio LLC, I lifted the phrase “con brio” from the Italian language and from the world of music, where it translates as “with vibrancy.”
In business, if that vibrant positive feeling is pervasive in the workplace, morale can remain high, even through stormy economic weather. And we all know positive morale improves performance as well as making life a lot more fun.
Morale is about groups, about how a group feels about what it does. There are many environmental events that are beyond a leader’s control. In spite of those events, a leader can take crucial steps that influence morale.
An orchestra conductor cannot control ticket sales for his concert. On any given night, one or more of the musicians may be going through rough times. There may be an undercurrent of friction between two violinists, or the air conditioning in the hall may be on the fritz. Still, the conductor wants to inspire the musicians to pour the desired attitude into their playing, to create music con brio if it’s called for. And…that conductor has only body language to work with.
Well, that baton thing, but still.
If you are the leader in an organization of thousands, or if you’re supervising three or four people, morale is your job. If negativity and hostility are fermenting in your workplace, it’s up to you to make the atmosphere more positive and productive. You probably do not control the situation causing the negativity; most likely no one in your company does. It may be the global economic mess; it may be a rumor chain gaining energy – and drama – as it crawls through the organization. A former employee may be spreading false information about the company. It may be a series of decisions that impact employees, decisions out of their control such as budget reductions, mandatory overtime, downsizing. People may be misinterpreting a group email or a cancelled management meeting. Who knows?
You may be sensing negativity and low morale, and never be able to identify the cause. Your employees may not even know precisely why they feel negative about their jobs. Negative – and positive – attitudes are contagious, and no one may know for sure where the low morale virus began. Point is, don’t waste days and weeks trying to get to the source. By then the negativity can be out of control.
Start with yourself
Where you have significant control, is with yourself. So start there. You are human and you’re entitled to your own collection of moods. What you want to do though, is ramp up your awareness of those moods, so that you don’t contribute to the negativity. I promise you that the people in your organization see you as their barometer. I guarantee that they are experts at interpreting your words, your body language, your voice and your actions. They probably even know how to “get you going” and may do it for any number of reasons, even to distract you from their own poor performance on a project.
So check yourself out first. Learn to recognize when your own morale is low. Ask if you’ve lost faith in the mission of your organization. Remember a definition of morale is how the group feels about what it does. So how do you feel about what you’re doing? You may feel pressured to make decisions you don’t support. Your fear of the future – even fear of next month – may be gaining on you and eroding your belief in yourself and your business. These are just guesses. Spend some reflective time to get clear on the negative clouds that may be lurking inside your mind.
Authenticity
Then plan how to address the morale of the organization. Whatever you do must be authentic. If trust in the mission of the organization is low, trust in the leadership is low. So you must grow the trust by being trustworthy. Re-align yourself with your business. Why is it important? What impact does the work in your place have? What value does it add? Morale is high when each person believes in his job, understands how it relates to the mission, “gets” that his part is valuable. Value is simply about worth, the worth we place on an activity.
Morale is high when groups feel good about what they do. When throughout the organization, people believe that what they do there is worth something. So once you’ve solidified your faith in that, figure out how to communicate credibly to your employees, at every level. Include them in that plan if it makes sense. Whatever you do, speak your truth.
