Commercial Integrator May 2022 - 15

you. If not, then it's time to rethink how you
conduct business. This exercise has a twofold
benefit: First, it shows your employee
that they have a voice that matters to you.
Second, it allows you, as a leader, to make
smart adjustments that better align your
business with sustainable practices.
If something sticks out to you that could
have an immediate impact, don't be bashful!
Let the employee know. Conversely, if
there's something that just doesn't fit your
corporate structure or goals, it's okay to
speak about that, too. Why won't or can't
you make a change to satisfy the employee?
Can you articulate how the personal
and corporate goals collide?
Enjoy Incremental Victories
Play Small Ball and Reward Every
Achievement: " Small ball " is a baseball
term that describes a style of play. Instead
of every batter trying to hit a home run
each time at bat (a terrible strategy, statistically
speaking), winning teams often
employ the small-ball approach by seeking
to get runners on base, moving them
around the bases and seeking to score
runs. Laying down a bunt, hitting a blooper
base hit and stealing a base can get the
job done in incremental steps. Those steps
require creativity instead of brute strength.
Team-sports analogies, as well as the lessons
they teach, will always be helpful to
people as they grow in corporate America.
Employees should enjoy their daily,
smaller, incremental victories. But these
often go unnoticed. As a leader, you must
look for and celebrate these daily victories.
Give your employees recognition and honor
the smaller achievements, which, collectively,
make the larger goal possible. To
improve and maintain morale, employees
must feel that what they're doing is important...that
their achievements make a difference
to the team's most challenging goals.
Frequent recognition for effective, creative
problem-solving increases happiness and
fosters teamwork; thus, it improves morale.
Recognize, reward and repeat!
The Ties That Bind
Create Strong Bonds Within Your
Teams: Most employees spend more than
a third of their lives working. That's especially
true if they're managers, senior-level
staff or leaders within your organization.
Imagine spending eight-plus hours a day
with people you don't like and don't
know anything about. This represents a
sterile existence that most people would
dread showing up to each day. Dread
equals unhappiness, and unhappiness is
profoundly contagious. It will quickly poison
the well, and, ultimately, it will prove
crushing to a team's morale.
Get to the root cause and understand
why the misalignment - the dread of
coming to work - exists. Can things be
salvaged and turned around? In the most
dramatic situation, be prepared to give
that employee the choice to join the team
or go elsewhere.
What you do want to encourage is a
cohesive group that can work together
toward your common goals. The best way
to build closer relationships among your
workforce - they are, after all, the single
greatest asset that you have - is to bring
them together outside of the work environment.
If possible, hold a dinner with one
rule: No one can discuss business. Try having
everyone at the table go around and
state one interesting or unusual fact about
themselves. This ice-breaking exercise can
reveal similarities among people and lead
to interesting conversations. It also allows
people to let their guard down and relate
to one another on a personal level.
Outings and Team-Building Events
People crave familiarity because it
removes discomfort and awkwardness.
With regular outings and team-building
events - for example, exercise programs,
wine-tasting trips or group painting
classes - you can bring people together
and create deeper relationships. After a
few of these, you should see improved
teamwork at the office, better individual
interactions and a pervasive sense of
belonging. Improved teamwork and a
supportive, friendly work environment are
the greatest morale boosters that a company
can achieve. The payoff for the time
and financial investment is immeasurable.
Always remember that your employees
can make or break you.
Leaders have a responsibility to care for
employees beyond offering 401(k)s, PTO
and pay increases. They should embrace
a more humanistic approach to leadership
and company culture - one that has
proven effective at large corporations.
Meeting employees where they are in
their lives, knowing and respecting their
values, and recognizing daily achievements
in a tight-knit team helps to build
and maintain strong morale. Happiness,
fulfillment and a sense of belonging within
and among teams guarantees a more
productive and successful company.
Get to know your team. Share your
expectations. Then, go out there and strive
for mutual success.
A supportive, friendly work environment that is conducive to teamwork is the
greatest morale booster that a company can effectuate.
commercialintegrator.com
Zina Hassel is president and
founder of ZLH Enterprises, a
member of The ASCII Group
since 2015.
MAY 2022 Commercial Integrator
15
NDABCREATIVITY/STOCK.ADOBE.COM
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator May 2022

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