Boost morale by ensuring holistic growth
I hope my staff will return from the holidays motivated and energised. What can be done to keep them performing well all year round?
IT’S a good idea to be thinking like this now, rather than reacting later when you see employee attitude and performance levels dropping. Having this long-term view allows you to develop a plan for maintaining peak performance.
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz coined the term “corporate athlete” at the beginning of the last decade. An extension of this is the work they did in developing “the high-performance pyramid”. Not unlike the levels in Goleman’s emotional intelligence model, the stages of the highperformance pyramid depend on each other and there is oscillation between them.
The elements identified back in 2001 are still evident in current literature on employee performance: physical capacity (which builds endurance and promotes mental and emotional recovery), emotional capacity (which creates the internal climate that drives peak performance), mental capacity (which focuses physical and emotional energy on the task at hand) and spiritual capacity (which provides a powerful source of motivation, determination and endurance).
Your job is to foster and environment where all these elements can be positively affected. Here are some ideas:
Physical capacity is best developed by getting your employees to do more. Challenge them and then allow them time to master increased abilities, then challenge them again.
Run fun competitions that allow employees to raise their game in a creative and entertaining way.
Alternatively, you could rotate staff so that they experience different aspects of work in your organisation, so that they can be stimulated by change. Their perspectives will change, allowing them to see how they impact the broader organisation and how all areas of the business relate.
Building emotional capacity is a little trickier because it demands that you and other leaders in your organisation understand what motivates people.
Start by making an effort to listen to people – understand what is said and unsaid when you interact with them. Watch how they react to different people and different situations. You will soon start to see patterns that will give you insight into what makes them “tick”.
You can help the mental capacity of your employees by making sure that they have the tools they need to get the job done.
Check that they are not overburdened or overwhelmed by their workloads and foster a positive attitude towards working progressively.
Ensure that they take leave at appropriate times. Leave includes daily opportunities to exercise, as well as longer periods to enjoy a holiday. People need time out to replenish their energy levels.
Develop spiritual capacity by making an emotional connection between who people are and what they do.
If they see meaning in what they do, feel that they are valued and that (even in some small way) they are making the world a better place, then they will naturally perform better.
Regular team building sessions, opportunities for employees to interface directly with management and community projects all help to develop spiritual capacity.