UF Postings Past: Cheerleading is Important Too
May 4, 2008 – 8:59 amHave you ever taken your car to a mechanic and found the mechanic to be in a horrible mood? Did you feel uncomfortable driving your car later, worried that he was too unhappy to do his job well?
Just as you don’t want a car fixed by a disgruntled mechanic, your customers will not want a product built by disgruntled employees. Unhappy people tend to focus on their unhappiness and fail to focus well on the task at hand. Worse, sometimes they focus their unhappiness on that task, messing it up on purpose. Even when they mean well, they work slowly, and they make mistakes.
What does all this add up to for you as a manager? Morale matters. One of your jobs as a manager is to lead people in performing activities quickly, effectively, and efficiently. Unhappy employees do none of these things. You should take an active role in motivating your team. When problems arise, take an active role in solving them. When an employee is beyond your help, though, you must recognize this and react to it. This may involve shifting responsibilities temporarily, or it may involve taking more permanent action. Either way, morale matters. Raise it when you can, deal with it when you cannot.
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