We had a team meeting to discuss the Employee Survey earlier this week. It was a good discussion on how some interpreted the questions, the events that had influenced their responses, and most importantly, who’s paying attention to the survey results. And in that question of “who is paying attention,” I think I found the most important nugget. Morale is closely tied to feedback and recognition.
Now I know that isn’t a surprise to anyone; we all know that feedback is essential. But how many of us are really living it. How many times have we gotten an emergency request for a fast answer? How about the big report or memo that you sent out? Did anybody read it? Did it help? Unfortunately, positive feedback, in my experience, is limited. How often do you hear that we need to cut costs, reduce schedules, make fewer mistakes, and in general, just do things better? I would rate that as negative feedback since it focuses only on our weaknesses.
While correcting mistakes and making improvements are necessary, identifying and recognizing our strengths are also important. Moreover, it is essential for good morale. It is easy to become disillusioned and discouraged if all we ever hear is that we need to do better without ever hearing we are doing something good, or right, or even (dare I say) outstanding.
I propose that we improve any situation faster, reduce costs, shorten schedules, and make fewer mistakes by recognizing our strengths, our jobs well done, and by saying thank you, your efforts have made a positive difference.