How much does leadership in your organization effect your morale?
January 28th, 2010 | Published in Leadership | 7 Comments
This semester I am taking a course on human resource management in the nonprofit sector. For my final paper I would like to focus on the effects leadership in organizations have on the morale of staff.
My focus has come from observations of some unhappy employees in my area. Many do not feel they are valued, while others receive no support from leadership. Much of the time this leads to burnout and a desperate plea for a new job.
Over time I have come to be convinced that strong leadership that values employees is crucial to keeping staff motivated and community benefit organizations successful… but for some reason I continuously see leadership not paying attention to staff morale.
Not to be a complete downer. I have met leaders that do provide great staff motivation, which leads to better productivity, long-term staff, and better programs. It can happen.
So… I am looking for your opinions. How much do you see the effects of leadership on your own happiness and motivation at work? Are you seeing leadership having effects on other employees in your organization?
Please share your stories. Maybe together we can get to the bottom of this.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:06 am (#)
Yes, organizational leadership does affect employee happiness, or engagement as the HR folks like to call it. It can basically be boiled down to “Loyalty up; loyalty down.” Are the senior leaders loyal to their people or do they take them for granted (or worse)?
Pardon an example from history. General George Patton didn’t care if his men feared him, in fact he used it to motivate them. But he took care of them and they responded by accomplishing tasks few other armies could do (See “Bulge, Battle of). He was loyal to his men.
I’m a systems thinker. While it is important that leadership show they value employees, it’s also important that leadership set the organization’s course by having a clear mission, vision, and set of business goals. Providing opportunities for employee feedback up the chain is also critical. All of these are not separate, they affect and influence each other. While the thrust of your paper might be on staff moral, I think it’s important to acknowledge these other factors that are interrelated. A clear mission, vision, etc also impacts morale.
(By the way, before you submit that paper, check the difference between the use of “affects” and “effects.”)
Good luck,
Glenn
January 29th, 2010 at 8:15 am (#)
“I’m a systems thinker. While it is important that leadership show they value employees, it’s also important that leadership set the organization’s course by having a clear mission, vision, and set of business goals. Providing opportunities for employee feedback up the chain is also critical. All of these are not separate, they affect and influence each other.”
I concur. Thank you for sharing the historical perspective and your thoughts. We always need to learn from history. And your connection to systems theory makes sense. Leadership must set the course and allow for feedback.
It seems that no feedback loop in organizations leads to staff not feeling valued and in the end the course set by leadership is never met.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:03 pm (#)
I think the photo you used in this post says a lot: a leader with no followers is just someone going on a walk alone.
The best leader takes people with them and helps them feel that the journey is as is important as the destination. And that each person’s contribution is vital for the achievement of the goal.
From personal experience, I’d say that staff or volunteers give more of their time, energy and excellence when they know they are valued by the leader, when the leader does things that make the staff feel more appreciated, and when the staff knows the leader personally cares about them and their life outside of work.
January 30th, 2010 at 7:27 am (#)
Thanks for your insight Rich. Staff and volunteers need to know they are doing well outside their program work.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:59 pm (#)
Having been in the nonprofit workforce for almost 15 years, I’ve had quite a number of jobs and all different kinds of leaders.
From what I can tell, the best bosses/directors/CEO’s were the ones that actually sought out and acquired some sort of formal training in leadership. I don’t mean a two-hour workshop. I mean a serious, concentrated multi-day course (one being Academy Leadership, that I took a while back. The site is http://www.academyleadership.com).
Being a good leader by inspiring and motivating the employees is not something one automatically knows. And too many individuals within nonprofits are promoted to leadership positions because they have expertise in a certain subject area, but have never been taught even the rudiments of what it takes to keep employees motivated and how to maximize their talents.
Ensuring good performance from employees takes serious time and effort — I have supervised a number of people, and I sometimes feel like it’s a chore to have to take time to have a conversation to address a problem, offer a report additional training or to hunt down some extra resources that may help them in their job. But it is TOTALLY worth it. Employees need training, honest and consistent feedback, a viable reward system, and a sense that what they do is important.
As soon as more nonprofit leaders get formal training, the better the work environment will be for many of us. Good leaders will benefit even more, and the not-so-good leaders will have their eyes opened.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:06 pm (#)
Hi Tera, just another note — the course sounds fascinating! Thanks for the great tweets you send out. Best, – L
February 5th, 2010 at 6:48 am (#)
Thanks for your comments and honesty Laura. Supervising staff does feel like a chore sometimes, but is always well worth it in the end.
Thanks for the link to the great training you participated in too.