Strong morale is not a luxury item; it’s always been an essential for life. And that’s even more true today considering present situation. Uncertainty of the future can damage both motivation and productivity and can also create a lot of fear among employees. Companies that can sustain workforce and boost their employee’s morale while Coronavirus disrupts businesses will be better compared to those who are just watching and waiting for it to vanish.

Keeping in view what’s important, here are few virtual and virtuous tips for maintaining morale at your company:

Stay Positive

If you’re in a leadership position or the boss of a company, keep in mind that the other employees are going to take indications from how you react to situations. If you keep complaining about unsteady market, economy downturn and bad productivity, employees will loose hope and the feeling of despair will spread as fast as a piece of office gossip. You need to be positive and upbeat. Try to look for solutions and be enthusiastic in your daily interactions with employees. By no means try to paint a false picture. Don’t restructure your personality just because you’re going through a hard time.

Be open

It’s one of the biggest mistake employers do, attempting to hide things going on with the company from your employees. Not realizing that they probably know, hearing rumors within the industry and talking amongst themselves, so it not okay to pretend like there is no problem. Being positive doesn’t mean in any way that you have to hide the truth from your employees thinking they would panic. Being honest and open about the current situation and the issues you are facing can strengthen your relationship and bring you all closer as a team and work towards finding a common solution. Discuss the problem and also the improvements and keep the forum open for suggestions. Being involved and valuing your employee’s thoughts in improving the company will automatically boost up their morale and loyalty.

Develop self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is a belief within that you are effective and can handle difficulties without getting stressed. Developing self-efficacy is like muscle strength training, you grow stronger and stronger with increased level of challenges. You can help your employees build their self-efficacy stronger though appropriate levels of challenge. Provide them with the right tools and resources. And train them to do their jobs well, so they can feel the thrill when challenged during difficult times.

Cut back unnecessary sources of stress

The fluidity and uncertainty of the current situation requires both companies and employees to be flexible. Priorities are quickly shifting and often unpredictably. So, you need to adapt to the present and not stick on the previous policies. Review your rules and policies as you don’t want your employees to spend all their time and energy struggling to cope up with ridiculous rules and policies. Smart employers, ask their employees about their challenges and try to find solution for those to eliminate all unnecessary sources of stress and frustration.

Be available and accessible

Now is not the time to disappear and lock yourself up and bounce back on surface when things are smooth sailing again. This is the time to be proactive and be out in the thick of it. If you act like you don’t care, your team is going react in the same way and stop caring about work and company too. Employees admire leaders who try to be part of the team and try to do as much as the rest of the team to find solution to the problem. Keep your doors open and be accessible. Encourage your employees to approach you about any problem or apprehension they have.

Celebrate wins and show your appreciation

The positive feelings that come from success are an antidote to anxiety and fear. Nothing boosts spirits and strengthens determination like succeeding at challenging times. During difficult phases when nothing falls at right place employees often develops a loser mentality. Restrain this natural tendency by celebrating victories both small and large. Make it a practice to appreciate hard work sharing this whole company on a regular basis.

Closing thoughts

Several researches conducted on stress and health has proven that strong relationships are more resilient to traumatic events. As a leader you should foster strong relationships by building teamwork, mutual respect, courtesy, and caring.
Even in the worst of times, recognizing and appreciating the hard work of employees even with a simple thank you every now and then can keep their morale up, meanwhile also strengthening the relationship that exists between you and your staff. By including your staff in the efforts to improve the current process and also their work will help them do a better job, making them feel like they have a stronger stake in your company.