There are no successful teams that have never been in a difficult situation. Sooner or later, they will have to face challenging goals and prospects or a lack of resources and funding. In that case, employees will be baffled, upset, and nervous. Lack of motivation among staff leads to reduced productivity, and if they do not get a good reason to stay in the organization, they will leave. Therefore, as soon as the initial attack of panic ends, it is necessary for the leader to deal with the workers’ morale.
At first, it is crucial to recognize and discuss the problem. One of the worst things a leader can do when morale is low is to pretend that it is not. Jasmine should not try to protect her team from bad news, and it will be better to tell everything as it is. It will increase confidence in the organization by involving team members in the critical decision-making process. Together, they will be able to find a way to fix the problem more quickly, and all participants will understand that their contribution is valuable.
At this stage, the leader must show excellent communicative skills and inspire the employees. According to Stam (2017), there are “two types of communication: promotion-focused communication and prevention-focused communication.” The first type focuses on goals, motivates by moving forward towards something. The second type is more focused on what people want to avoid to be safe, to be vigilant. It seems that in stressful situations, it is necessary to use prevention-oriented communication, as people seek to secure themselves. However, the researcher found that during the crisis, the employees are more motivated by promotion-oriented communication. Jasmine needs to remind of the organization’s goals – and even if they cannot help everyone, supporting a few is worth the effort. At the same time, a good way to increase morale is to gather feedback from the team and show them that the leader hears them.
The next stage of raising morale will be attention to victories and positive results. In difficult times it is essential to celebrate any achievement, even the smallest. When confidence is lowered, team members need confirmation that they are still valued and respected. According to Ramay et al. (2017), morale is significantly increased due to satisfaction with personal work. Victories will improve the mood of team participants and help maintain their self-confidence, undermined by difficulty.
A crisis is a period of change, and it depends on the organization itself, whether those changes will be for the better or not. For this reason, the leader in the third stage should unite the team as much as possible. Simple methods of teambuilding will help in this. For example, employees can schedule some joint entertainment to distract the team from difficulties. Moreover, a joint dinner or picnic also can unite people.
After all, the primary responsibility for morale always lies with the team leader. He or she needs to make an effort to assess the level of tension in the team and relieve employees of unnecessary stress. Pessimistic sentiments created by changes can be contagious and spread very quickly, therefore it is necessary to respond immediately, to develop trust and optimism. Following such a plan of action will help any team survive times of crisis.
References
Ramay, M. I., Majeed, Z., Javed, S., Saeed, M. A., & Ismail, M. (2017). Impact of Leadership Behaviors on Employees’ Job Satisfaction, Morale and Turnover Intentions. Bahria University Journal of Management & Technology, 1(1), 48-60.
Stam, D. (2017). Leadership communication in times of crisis. RSM Discovery-Management Knowledge, 29(1), 12-14.