Morale - the new challenge

We have had to come to terms with a virus that has affected every aspect of our lives including our freedoms, our ability to be with our loved ones, and it has now continued for months, sometimes with no end in sight even with the current vaccine programs.?

COVID fatigue has officially set in.

Volunteering on a crisis helpline and from observing those around me, I know people are struggling to navigate the personal impacts of the virus, it’s impact on our economies, our businesses and our future, and the unprecedented levels of uncertainty that continues to test our resilience.

As business leaders we are faced with the challenge of managing not only our own mental wellbeing in these times, but the morale of our people as well.?

Just to clarify, for me morale is not to be confused with motivation - albeit they are intrinsically linked.?Morale is the attitude, whereas, motivation is the energy for someone to accomplish a task.

In fact, I had this very conversation last week with a colleague who shared his concern as to employee morale, battling COVID fatigue, zoom fatigue, mental health, keeping people engaged, and keeping ourselves engaged, focused and dedicated.

To help I shared with him some insights from our C&T China family business and whilst we have to accept that in these times everyone’s happiness will decline, by looking to the far side of Covid and these economic woes we can still increase morale.

Keep them believing?- at C&T China family we continue to intentionally craft stories we want to tell about how we will take this opportunity to thrive and out-distance our competitors by keeping everyone in the know,?focusing and dedicating ourselves to quality, customer experience and results.

Embrace empathy?- as the leader it is my role to hold our C&T China family together which extends to personal and human needs as well as business priorities.?Creating empathy and caring improves morale whether it is a quick check-in with our people on non-work matters, flexible ours to allow for school runs, or working remotely to ease some health issues, this is critical to morale.

Culture?- we are intentional in our communications, words and actions.?But we wanted to do more.?We wanted to bring our vision and values to life.?We started a program to locally articulate our Cooper Turner Beck Group vision and values through real local China examples that we can recreate and share using thru’ different media.?This will help remind us of our immediate way forward and provide a map for the future so we strength knowledge of where we are going.?

Celebrate, appreciate & recognize- at our C&T China family we don’t need an excuse.?Cream cakes already a big part of our culture.??Recognition for quick wins, whether it's formal, informal, or public, encourages everyone to reach for similar achievements and along with it morale.

Mini-projects?- creating mini-improvement projects based almost entirely on verbal exchanges gives our people focus, the feeling of contribution and control and a deeper sense of connection to the business.?But what they don’t want lots of paper work and firm filling, rigidity and complexity - never good for morale.

As leaders we should find solace in the fact that we are not alone.?

Practicing self-care, leveraging empathy and leading with intentionality will help us all lead our companies not just to survive but thrive as the post Covid and new economic reality takes shape.?

I hope by applying these insights on improving morale will help you to overcome this challenge for yourself and your team and lead you towards a strong, successful future as we are doing for our C&T China family.