Morale

Get it up

“The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves!”

This is one of my favorite funny office signs that you can see around every so often. It’s usually a snarky way that employees or team members are communicating what they think about their bosses or what their bosses think about them, depending on who’s desk it’s on.

Here’s your obligatory definition of morale, in case your Google’s broken:

"The confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time.”

Hmmmm, funny, it doesn’t mention anything about happy, joyful, fun, or pleasant.

As leaders, we’re responsible for the morale of our teams and our people. To keep morale high, people need a purpose and a mission to work for. Some of the best morale I’ve ever witnessed was in the Navy during pre-deployment workups, when the hours are long and the work is hard. Then, during deployments, the work is just as hard but more monotonous, as you count down the days to go home.

What kept our spirits, our confidence and enthusiasm up? Yep, you guessed it. Our leaders. When I was junior, I’d look to the Chiefs to gauge the tone. They’d often set the expectations, and not in a gentle way. Soon, I became one of those Chiefs that had to keep the morale going when times were the darkest.

How? Well, you have to step outside of yourself. You have to swallow down your feelings and despair, loneliness, fatigue and doldrums and you have to remember your personal mission, to take of your team and to complete the bigger mission. You have to remind the team what you’re working for, remind them how much you appreciate them and most importantly, jump in and get dirty with them and do the hard work. No one respects a desk leader.

So, remember as you work along your leadership path, when morale seems low, you are responsible to bring it back where it should be. Go out there and get it back. Lead from the front, keep the focus where it needs to be and be empathetic to the team.

Lead forward

Semper Fortis

Chief Chuck