The High Cost of Low Morale: It can Cripple Your Business

Low morale is like a disease that begins to eat away at the forward progress of any business. Tremendous time and resources are lost when employees are not happy. Some decide to leave while others remain and infect the morale of the coworkers around them. When there is a problem within a company, you will see low morale and high turnover. Low morale brings with it slowed progress, reduced productivity, and high rates of turnover. If allowed to continue, the company's ability to grow is severely hampered. It's fair to say that morale, high or low, is the driving force behind a company.

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Creating a Motivating and Productive Work Environment

Every business owner wants to believe they have created a great place for their employees to work. The problem, however, is that sometimes there is a disconnect between what senior leaders believe keeps employees engaged and what employees actually need to become engaged in their work environment. There is one simple fact and that is that employee engagement leads to more successful companies.

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The Basics of Developing an Organizational Learning Culture

Companies that invest in the professional development of their employees benefit in many ways.  As employee motivation and productivity increase, so do profits. You create a workforce that is unstoppable at achieving your vision. But where do you start? You start by developing a learning culture in your company.

There are three main tasks that need to be completed in order to develop a learning culture. You must:

1. Identify the skills your team needs to do their jobs effectively;
2. Train your team in those skills; and 
3. Incorporate ways your team may develop and reinforce those skills.

Here's an example - You have taken the time to recruit a new sales force for your company. In their daily activities, each member of your sales team will be responsible for the following:

• Making presentations prospective clients;
• Sourcing solutions by working with your technical staff and contractors;
• Working with your technical staff and legal team to draft work scopes and contracts; 
• Negotiating the contracts; and 
• Maintaining good working relationships with clients.

Starting with the first step, identify the skills your team will need to do their jobs effectively. Using our example, at a minimum, it will be important for your sales team be trained in presentation skills, communication styles, building credibility, customer service skills, and negotiation skills. There may also be some industry-specific training you will want to provide for your team.

Once you've identified the types of skills they need to master, you will want to coordinate the actual training.  Do you have in-house training staff or will you need to hire an outside training professional? What is the priority for training? How quickly would you like to facilitate the programs? Are there any company-specific standard operating procedures that need to be incorporated into your training programs? When you work with a training and development consultant, he/she will ask the important questions so you can coordinate your training in a meaningful and organized manner.

Finally, it's not enough to provide the training, it's also important to reinforce the training. Create a library of resources for your team, conduct periodic refresher training sessions, and teach your managers how to coach and encourage their teams in the newly learned skills. As each member of your team develops their skills, they will feel a greater sense of accomplishment and worth. You will have created a learning culture foundational to your company's daily business operations, your employees will excel, and your business will prosper. 

Creating a Motivated Team and Productive Workplace

You've selected a great team of professionals, now how do you get them to work together effectively and efficiently? One of the best ways to create a motivated and productive workplace is to invest in your team's professional training and development. When you take the initiative to show your team they are valued, they will wholeheartedly respond by working harder to bring greater success to your business.

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The Importance of Promoting "Team"

Business owners looking to create a stronger, more cohesive working environment are constantly searching for ways to motivate their employees. There are a number of things you can do to promote commitment from the people who work for you, like developing a learning culture in your organization and communicating your values and goals; however, there's more.

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Fuel Success and Performance with the "Happiness Advantage"

"If you observe the people around you, you'll find most individuals follow a formula that has been subtly or not so subtly taught to them by their schools, their company, their parents, or society. That is: If you work hard, you will become successful, and once you become successful, then you'll be happy." Shawn Achor in The Happiness Advantage

For years we've all been lead to believe that by working harder, we'll achieve the success that will bring us the happiness we so desire. We push ourselves and our employees to do more, be more productive... achieve, achieve, achieve. The problem with this is that it doesn't work. We've now created a society of people who are burned out and unhealthy from stress.

Shawn Achor's book, "The Happiness Advantage" gives some powerful insight into happiness and how studies have shown that positive and happy attitudes fuel success. His book provides business owners with seven practical and actionable principles that have been tried and tested to improve performance and maximize potential.