Boost team morale and commitment

New year, new goals, they say! However, keeping high and boosting the morale and commitment of your employees remains a resolution that endures over time. The ways of doing things, for their part, are evolving and must show more and more creativity. With current measures constantly evolving and the radical change that the majority of companies have undergone in terms of work organization, this challenge does not lose size. Taking this reality into account, how can you continue to boost employee morale and engagement?

Here are three practices that we have tested ourselves and which are unanimously approved!

Schedule meetings with your teams

Whether weekly, monthly, quarterly, the idea is to schedule time with your employees in groups and individually. In particular, this can take the form of a SCRUM meeting at the start of each week. Team members will have the opportunity to discuss their workload and situations experienced. They will also be able to share their learning and achievements, as well as those of their colleagues. For your part, it is also an ideal time to go through more administrative points concerning the company, or to give public recognition to your employees.

Another example would be individual statutory meetings every month. These will allow you to get closer to the members of your team, to have a better knowledge of each individual and to be aware of their personal expectations.

All in all, these meetings will bring a sense of teamwork, which can sometimes be tarnished with teleworking. Allowing time in advance in the agenda for your meetings will allow communication, belonging and transparency to prevail and will therefore maintain the morale and commitment of your team. Let’s remember that according to Maslow’s pyramid, the feeling of belonging is an individual’s third need!

Involve your employees in their professional development plan

According to human resources professor at HEC Montréal, Michel Tremblay, the most motivating elements in a work environment are relationships with colleagues and managers, but also the meaning in the work carried out.[1]!

Therefore, give your employees responsibility for thinking about and putting together their professional development plan, while supporting them! You can take advantage of statutory meetings to address this subject. Extending employee development throughout the year and not just in formal performance meetings will help keep them engaged. The feeling of developing yourself will also have a positive impact on morale. Eric Gosselin, full professor in work and organizational psychology at the Department of Industrial Relations at the University of Quebec in Outaouais, even specifies that motivation and self-determination, that is, the feeling of control over one’s work, has a direct link with motivation[2].

Let your resources surprise you

With this in mind, do not hesitate to support the initiatives of your staff to the best of your abilities.[3]. For example,  your bookkeeper wants to suggest a team building activity? Ask them to submit a formal and detailed proposal to you! Does your sales associate think it might be worth trying a new commission accounting system? Take the time to note their arguments and consider the possibility of making it a pilot project! Take these ideas as proof of your employees’ dedication to your organization’s success. And if the initiative is successful, applying it across the organization could create an overall increase in engagement and morale.

Conclusion

As Josh Rovner explains, “High morale allows teams to focus on accomplishing their tasks in an optimal work environment, freed from concerns about improving their well-being.”[4]. Commitment will allow your business to grow significantly and will help achieve your objectives. It is therefore essential for companies to address these questions. Certainly, looking for ways to boost the morale and engagement of your teams can seem scary. However, fabulous tools, such as the deploymentemployee surveys, can help you. Sometimes you have to wade through troubled waters before you receive waves of positivity.

And to help you dive underwater, contact us.

SOURCES:

[1] https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1083958/travail-salaire-motivation-condition-motivation-engagement-retention-entreprise

[2]https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/economie/emploi/201005/07/01-4278301-quest-qui-motive-vraiment-les-employes.php

[3] https://slack.com/intl/fr-ca/blog/collaboration/methods-boosting-employee-morale

[4] https://blog.trello.com/fr/motivation-des-salaries-au-travail