Our resident corporate Agony Uncle, CEO Ken Cheng, tackles business challenges – so you don’t have to.
Dear Ken Cheng,
I’ve been told company morale is low after a wave of redundancies and a very inappropriate comment made by the Senior Manager. What can I do as a Senior Manager to boost it?
Keith, Senior Manager, Reading
Morale is a myth. There, I said it. It’s a word invented by employees to basically justify demanding more things for themselves.
Imagine you take your five year old child to the toy store and he sees a shiny new toy he wants to buy. The toy is £400 and you know it’s a low quality toy that will ultimately distract from studying for his exams in eleven years time.
So you tell him you won’t buy the toy. He starts screaming and crying saying he needs the toy no matter what.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, this child’s “morale” is now officially low. It’s rock bottom. Do you buy the toy to boost it?
Hell no.
Giving in to his “low morale” will simply teach him a terrible lesson, which is that reducing your own morale is the perfect way to get what you want and empty Daddy’s bank balance.
Here’s the truth. Your employees are no different from your annoying ugly son. They whinge and whine all the time. It’s always “not paying me enough” this or “that was inappropriate conduct” that.
Well, as soon as you start coddling them, that’s when productivity nosedives. Instead, do what I do with my son: punish them. If their morale is low, send it lower. Take away their perks. Slash their Christmas bonuses. Remove the microwave from the kitchen by hand. That’ll show them that if they mess with the bull, they better not miss.
If somebody is unhappy, the worst thing you can do is spend energy and money on making them happy, because it teaches them that being unhappy is a good thing. Instead, ignore them when they’re sad, and they’ll have no choice but to become happy.
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