The February 2021 issue of The American Legion Magazine tells the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a brave group of African-American women who deployed to war-torn Europe to take on the task of delivering mail to American troops fighting in WWII. They accomplished their mission with amazing speed and accuracy. Their motto was “no mail, low morale”! These brave soldiers and their leaders knew that high morale was important to their people.
I remember hearing a lot about morale when I was in the USAF, it almost felt like a uniquely military term, but it’s not exclusive to the military. We don’t often hear about morale in the workplace, we hear about compliance and rules, but not often about morale. That needs to change!
As leaders we are responsible for the morale of our people. Now we can’t make everybody happy, but we can create an environment where ideas and issues can be raised and addressed. An environment where leaders can, and must, allow their people to voice their opinions such that morale can be high. High morale helps us mitigate the other inevitable everyday issues we must deal with.
So, how can leaders keep morale high?
– Keep people informed (in the absence of data, people make things up, and it’s never positive)
– Engage our people and squelch issues when possible (only by knowing there is a problem, can it be fixed)
– Make communication with individuals a “safe space” (assure our people their information is safe and create time to address when required)
The bottom line; it’s time to dedicate ourselves to our people’s morale!