How can you build resilience in a team with low morale?

Be mindful of your relationship to the team impacted. While you may have the best intentions for your direct reports, your actions and behavior may be an unanticipated contributing factor to their low morale. Appropriately tap in human resources or another third-party individual to ensure the observations are both objective and psychologically safe for employees.

The first step in promote the resilience in low morale organization is to know the root cause for this issue and this could be done by conducting surveys, hold focus groups, or utilize anonymous feedback channels to understand what's the reason of the low morale. Are there workload issues, communication gaps, Silos, lack of recognition, or uncertainty about the future then you can tackle each one with a proper answer to change the low morale gradually to reach the required culture in the place with the resilience strategy

When investigating the cause, it’s important to know who’s on your team. By this I mean understanding the different cultures at play. The questions you ask are important, but so is how you’re asking them. If someone comes from a high hierarchical culture, they likely won’t feel inclined to share honestly with you if you sit above them and instead will say nothing or what they think you want to hear. This is one of many examples! What you can do in this case is: 1. Determine who is most trusted by the team (it might not be you!) 2. Have this person clarify how to respectfully raise flags and go against hierarchy if needed. 3. Establish clear definitions for the things you’re trying to solve so there’s shared understanding

It’s easy to jump into solution solving mode when a team has low morale or energy levels. While it’s enticing to go for a quick fix, this often only briefly resolves symptoms. Identifying the root cause of low morale is vital to develop a sustainable fix. When consulting with team members to determine root cause, make sure you consider common culprits of work overload, organisational injustice, poor reward and recognition, low job control, and incivility. Surveys and psychological risk assessments can be useful at scale to identify trends. There is no substitute however for good old-fashioned qualitative inquiry through focus groups and interviews to really flesh out the issues and develop actions that will address the root cause.

A simple start is to ask some open questions: - what's going well? - what could be improved? - what's getting in the way? The important part when undertaking this is to listen carefully to the responses and, very importantly, resist the urge to jump in and start offering potential solutions. Having listened to your team, either individually or as a group, then take them away to reflect on them. Then, in a separate meeting, offer them a summary of the findings in the context of the project. Ask them if you've got their perspectives accurately. At that point, you can work together to figure out what matters most to them, to the project and to you, and why. Finally, you can ask for their support in solution finding.

Understanding the causes of low morale is key - if thet are external such as economic conditions or conflict in a country then empathy, listening combined with wellbeing support can help. If, however, they are internal such as workload or internal politics or internal systems then helping teams navigate these issues is key. Its important for a leader to create the right operating environment for teams to succeed. At times, in large complex organisationa this might seem a daunting task but its good to focus on one or two areas and drive change in them to build confidence and engagemnet which in turn can benefit morale.

Show empathy and ask what they need, and give that to them, as much as you can. You may not be able to give the perfect answer but you will make sure they can continue working and that everything will eventually improve (if not, your duty as a human leader is to let them go to better opportunities)

Desarrollar la resiliencia en un equipo con baja moral implica fomentar la comunicación abierta, la escucha activa y el apoyo emocional. Establecer metas realistas, promover el trabajo en equipo y ofrecer oportunidades de desarrollo profesional contribuyen a fortalecer la resiliencia. Proporcionar feedback constructivo, cuidar del bienestar físico y mental, y modelar la resiliencia como líder son fundamentales. La revisión constante del clima laboral permite ajustar estrategias para mejorar la cohesión y el rendimiento del equipo.

Open, honest and direct communication. This is the way to push for cultural change in an organization or team. The people who are ready and willing to push for positive change will jump on board and those who aren’t, will show themselves and then a decision needs to be made of if they are the right people to have on this journey. Keep communication positive and productive, but firm and directive towards the needs of the group.

It’s easy to jump into problem solving as a leader when you have a little bit of information about the cause of poor team morale. Save time, energy, $$$, and get better buy-in by involving team members in problem solving. There’s often a disconnect between work-as-designed and work-as-done, and the workers themselves are the quickest conduit to understand this and develop suitable actions.

One thing I have found helpful is giving your team a seat at the table. Allowing team members full transparency into the business allows them to see the big picture which in turn helps with value creation and a solution driven mindset. When teams have visibility into all areas it is much easier to create clear goals and priorities to win together.

Speak to each team member individually about why they are feeling low. Aggregate the results and share with the team. Work together on how to solve what is causing the low morale. If it can't be swiftly solved (e.g. large organisational change) acknowledge the issue, and brainstorm on how you can all support each other through it. When you have a team that works together and supports each other, even if the work demands themselves are overwhelming, or the organisation is struggling, this team will thrive. The "I've got your back" mentality goes further than you think.

Create a Resiliency Roundtable at the end of each meeting or training! An opportunity for solution focused collaborative brainstorming that promotes discussion and creates a psychological safe environment!

For me, it is a case of knowledge is power. So often low morale is because staff feel like a boat adrift in the ocean, with no ability to steer, no control or no idea of the course they are on, Being transparent with staff about the what, the how and most importantly, the why is crucial to help staff feel a sense of safety, control, belonging and most importantly, a sense of hope and purpose. It is not about offering a heavily curated or manufactured message and it cannot be what you think they want to hear, but has to be the honest and messy and authentic truth. As leaders we need to role model true vulnerability and authenticity and create safe spaces in which our teams can do the same. People resonate and lean into authenticity..always x

Desarrollar la resiliencia en un equipo con baja moral implica fomentar la colaboración y la comunicación efectiva. Para lograrlo, es crucial establecer proyectos que requieran trabajo en equipo, alinear objetivos individuales con metas compartidas y crear un ambiente abierto. Se deben ofrecer sesiones de entrenamiento en habilidades de comunicación y celebrar el fracaso como una oportunidad de aprendizaje. Además, es esencial reconocer y valorar las contribuciones de los miembros, promover la mentoría y el apoyo mutuo, y permitir flexibilidad en los roles. Realizar reuniones efectivas y encuestas de retroalimentación periódicas garantiza una mejora continua en la colaboración y la resiliencia del equipo.

To lean into challenge and uncertainty, drawing from the unique skills and power cultivated during past challenge and adversity is a helpful reminder of who you are and what you can do - reminding the team that their track record for overcoming challenge and adversity is 100% helps establish the mindset to cultivate resilience. Beyond KPIs and other specific metrics, allowing the team to define personal success on their own terms frees them from the limiting stories they have come to believe in. Being a leader who recognises the team as a composite of individuals, each on their own path, and each drawing from different skills and experiences, fosters collective identity and a shared vision: 'we use what we've got to do what we can.'

Desarrollar la resiliencia en un equipo con baja moral implica fomentar el crecimiento y desarrollo. Establecer metas personalizadas, proporcionar oportunidades de capacitación y facilitar programas de mentoría promueven el desarrollo individual. La rotación de roles y la celebración de logros refuerzan la versatilidad y motivación del equipo. El feedback constructivo y la cultura de desarrollo continuo son fundamentales. Ofrecer flexibilidad laboral y promover la innovación contribuyen al bienestar y a un entorno positivo. Crear planes de desarrollo personalizado y fomentar una cultura de aprendizaje continuo refuerzan la resiliencia y fortalecen el compromiso del equipo.

Mental toughness is a skill. Some people may have higher levels, but it is something that can be developed. Put people into challenging environments so they can battle and achieve success in difficult situations. Simulate competition so that when that environment presents itself, they feel they’ve already been there before. Self-awareness, self-reflection and lots of communication and feedback allows for that skill to grow. Create a challenging but supportive environment and grow will be fostered.

Once you know each team member, what causes them more difficulties and you are an observer who carefully looks at situations in which they interact trying to find the moment in which they were able to defeat their fears or limits, it is then when you have to make them know what you noticed, congratulate them for going beyond their limits and be able to grow. Besides recognizing that in private, it works better when you can do it in public (if they feel like it, you know sometimes people don't want to be under the spotlight).

Implica cultivar un ambiente positivo mediante la celebración y el aprecio. Estrategias como el reconocimiento regular, eventos de celebración y expresiones de agradecimiento fortalecen la conexión y el sentido de logro. La celebración de cumplea?os, programas de recompensas y feedback positivo contribuyen al reconocimiento del desempe?o excepcional. Crear un ambiente festivo, establecer rituales de aprecio y involucrar a las familias refuerzan el sentido de pertenencia. Introducir premios especiales y mantener una cultura de celebración continua contribuyen a mejorar la resiliencia y el compromiso del equipo.

To help build resilience over the long-term, creating opportunities across each quarter for team members to lead-on or engage with work that showcases their skillset is a powerful approach. Developing new skills and operating outside the comfort zone as much as possible is essential for resilience, but before that can happen, people need to know they are safe and belong where they are; trust is the essential ingredient to having the courage to try new things. The easy way to build trust is to remind team members what they are good by creating opportunities that spotlight the unique skills that have got them to this point in their careers. Then you can ask: who else needs these skills and where else could they impact?'

We often forget a simple fact: Organizations are made of people. So if we want to create a resilient organization, we need to have resilient people. This is where things begin to break down. Today's success literature and management philosophies have no language to talk about what it means to be a resilient individual. We often talk about it in terms of mental or physical health. But that's a very small part of the full picture. Us human beings are complex creatures with many facets. We are not just behaviors and intellect. We have unique gifts and wisdom, emotions and inclinations, egos and higher aspirations. A culture that engages all our faculties as human beings will create resilient people and not suffer from low morale.

Our internal narrative plays a huge role in how we perceive challenges, setbacks, and change largely speaking. The story we tell ourselves about a situation heavily impacts our ability to not only overcome the challenge but bounce back from it as well. Part of a leaders’ role is to help shape the narrative in a way that is both inspiring and honest. If your team is struggling with low morale, they need hope. They need something to look forward to and be excited about. Reframing the current circumstances and shifting the story can help your team tremendously.