Management: how to boost workforce morale.

Studies have shown that workforce morale is linked directly to productivity: Workers who are happy in their jobs simply perform better. A coaching model of management--created from the best practices in organizational development, human resources, and leadership methods--enables organizations to boost workforce morale. Here are some tips on supporting a higher quality of work life at your organization, starting with your management team:

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* Encourage a focus on things that make your managers feel good. Your job as CEO is to instill a positive focus in every employee.

* Allow each staff person to speak without fear of ridicule, judgment, or reprisals. Many a new or improved product or service or way of doing something has sprung from the employee think tank.

* Hold "what's right" meetings. These regular meetings should be held in a group setting and have no agenda other than sharing what is going well, what people are noticing as working correctly, and what people are feeling good about. Such meetings can lead to the exchange of ideas about how to make things work better.

* Create transformation teams. Their purpose is to exchange ideas for creating a better work environment.

* Focus managers' attention on creating what they want in the workplace. If we encourage employees to spend more time thinking about what they want, what feels good, and what makes them happy in their jobs, then that is the reality that they will create.

* Emphasize the importance of conducting morale checks. Managers need to view themselves as employee check-up specialists who remove obstacles and challenges, encourage feedback, and take the pulse of employee morale.

* Hold skinny meetings. Reduce the time spent in meetings by viewing them as a time to meet for inspired action. Keep people on track, be upbeat and positive, and acknowledge all successes. Do not judge what is offered. Ensure everyone leaves the meeting with at least one inspired action and returns to their departments feeling good about themselves and the work they do.

--Terri Levine, author of Stop Managing, Start Coaching (2003, Comprehensive Coaching U), and CEO of Coaching Instruction, North Wales, Pennsylvania; [e-mail]