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In my experience, maintaining high employee engagement and motivation in every business is very dependent on how you handle negative events and setbacks, as well as how well you maintain focus on positive steps forward. I call this concept managing the work environment, rather than managing people. Even with negative events, the culture must stay positive.
Every business has setbacks, project cancellations, and external events that can sap the energy from your team members and override the benefits of even the best people management efforts, including personal recognition and communication, and excellent team collaboration. Your challenge is to be the role model for setting a positive work environment by managing negatives.
I have found that negative work environments lead to confusion in team member mental focus, leading them to doubt their own capabilities and value, as well as the health of the business. The result is reduced productivity, as well as low employee morale and job satisfaction. In many cases, this can lead to business failures, even with highly qualified employees and leaders.
Here are my key recommendations for ways to add work environment management to your list of priorities to keep team members and your business from being dragged down by negative events that are often outside your control:
1. Provide a friendly, safe, and spacious work environment. Too many offices I know are cramped, use worn furniture, and ineffective lighting, creating a negative atmosphere from the start. This creates a negative mood which overrides project progress and business success. Make an initial investment in this area before people management.
2. Use coaching and training to enable project success. The driving force for consistent forward progress on all projects and minimizing demoralizing setbacks is leadership support in the form of daily communication and willingness to mentor. This keeps team member engagement and satisfaction high, as well as generating positive results.
3. Public individual censures damage overall team morale. Highlighting negative individual results has a greater impact on team morale and engagement than highlighting positive accomplishments, perhaps by a factor of two or three. Your challenge is to keep team feedback positive, and to limit necessary corrective actions to individuals involved.
4. Work satisfaction is highly tied to leader behavior. Avoid arbitrary changes to projects and priorities, as well as inconsistent communication to the team. Always acknowledge the value and scope of the current workload, and make sure all team members are qualified and trained for their roles. Present a positive and supportive leader image.
5. Large win morale boosts can be negated by small setbacks. Small everyday crises on a regular basis can overwhelm the emotional impact of a great project or customer success. Leaders need to highlight and publicly reward substantial progress events regularly and often. Be aware that people remember negatives more than positives.
6. Acknowledge the impact of events you cannot control. Leaders who try to shield team members from marketplace events outside the business, such as political or environmental changes, don’t do anyone any favors. Employees need to understand what you know and think, and feel their concerns are understood and appreciated.
As your work environment contains more and more hybrid and remote elements due to the recent pandemic and new communication technologies, these recommendations remain equally critical. Team members still look to your office environment as their “home base” and expect it to be positive. Don’t let negative issues disrupt employee motivation, satisfaction, and productivity.
Related: The 9 Momentum Killers Stopping Your Business Growth