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How can leadership address the decline in employee morale?

What should you do if you find yourself questioning your ability to lead or questioning your ability to motivate others?

As a leader, how do you promote growth in a manner that transforms today’s frontline employee to tomorrow’s leader? How do you motivate the “want” for internal growth and success without any materialistic incentive? How do you address a decline in employee morale? What should you do if you find yourself questioning your ability to lead or questioning your ability to motivate others?

First and foremost, if an employer wants to excel as a leader, they must remain humble. An employer cannot lead productively by closing themselves off to those in their direct line of supervision. As a leader, the number-one priority should be the immediate needs and/or concern of those whom you lead.

Listening is Key

In order for them to discover what those needs and/or concerns are, they must know their employees and they must have an understanding of their employee’s perspective (you can’t balance a scale with uneven weight).

Therefore, an employee’s needs and/or concerns should never be met with a poor attitude. A negative attitude will only build a wall between them and their employee and threaten their employee’s morale and the overall quality and well-being of the workplace. Instead, a good leader knows to take the wall down and open a path that leads directly to their open door.

Once the path is cleared and the door is opened, employees may find the desire to be more involved in the work they perform. This desire is the center for growth and development and must be cultivated. For the employee, the open door symbolizes a chance to be heard — a chance to be appreciated.

Through something as simple as attentive listening by the leadership, the employee begins to find value within themselves and value within the job and duties they perform. In my opinion, this is the initial step towards empowering the employee.

Through empowerment, the employee begins to develop a sense of responsibility for their actions. They begin to see themselves as a part of a team that works together so the goals of the organization can be met. The employee stands united with the employer because they both feel the same sense of responsibility that relate to the successes and failures of the organization. With that in mind, the “Us vs. Them” mentality is eliminated.

During times of constant change, leaders need to communicate down and listen to those who are immediately affected by the change being made. For those leaders who fail to see the importance of communicating down, you will easily begin to see the consequence when those you lead become confused and angry.

Today, changes are occurring at a rapid rate and those on the frontline are caught up in a whirlwind and have no say in the direction they are headed. From the employee’s perspective, this is unfair. Instead of upper management addressing the direct concerns of the employee, they are implementing policies and procedures that go directly against the needs and/or concerns of the employed and center around just the name of the person in power who is far removed from the changes that need to be implemented. If the employer is far removed from the place in need of change, how do they officially know what is needed?

Conclusion

Leaders can only lead when they have those who are willing to follow. If a leader remains far removed from those they supervise, they will never get a true understanding of what it’s like to be an employee within their organization. Therefore, have an open door policy, welcome the input of each individual employee, remind them of their value, promote personal growth and development, educate them, and, most importantly, empower them to be future leaders.

Anthony Gangi has a BA in psychology and is a 20-year veteran in corrections. He currently works as an Associate Administrator for State Corrections and has worked his way up through the ranks, from officer to sergeant, and then into administration. Anthony currently sits on the executive board of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Correctional Association. To date, Anthony Gangi has been invited to speak on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Lifetime, ABC, Fox and NewsNation. He is also the author of “Inmate Manipulation Decoded” and “How to Succeed in Corrections,” as well as the host of the Tier Talk podcast.
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