is the result of the right people coming together with the When family no longer matters, the family of negative
right product to create a presence of value that drives the emotions sets in. The result is a feud, not a family spirit.
customer to doing business with them. Without that Family Spirit, morale, the spirit of togetherness,
disappears. There must be a return to the Family Spirit! There
must be a return to the attitude, “We are in this together;
Many companies started believing their own press. They
through thick and thin we will stand together.” That is a
got caught up in their history and believed the product was
huge part of the foundation of presence, the strength to
what made them successful. The truth is the product is only
longevity. When morale is strong, so is the company.
as good as the people who make and represent it. When
people become disposable, the quality of the product
weakens. It is not an “either or situation”; it takes both What must be done to Rebuild Morale?
parts. When those who have been charged with leading
the company see the product as the most important part of
their business, their behavior weakens the morale of those
Looking up and seeing the value of the people,
who are charged with creating a great product.
must be more important than looking down and
staring at the bottom line through the eyes of
greed. Greed is a monster that once it gets a foothold
The longevity of business is the result of having a presence in an organization destroys it from the inside out. I am not
that is present when you are not present. That takes opposed to making a profit; that is the purpose of being
committed people who are passionate about what they in business, BUT when profit is the single most important
are doing and everyday bring the quality of their presence thing in a company, people are going to be sacrificed.
to the creation of the product. When morale diminishes,
the passion of people weakens. That will affect the quality
of what they produce. When morale is strong, so is the
Let’s go back to the statement, “It just doesn’t make
company.
sense!” Here is what doesn’t make sense to me. Why do
the producers of the product become the sacrifice and
those who are called “leaders” financially rewarded for
What must be done to Rebuild Morale? the destruction of the company? Does that make sense?
Leaders LEAD, they don’t destroy. 99% of what has ruined
organizations is the lack of leadership. When organizations
A spirit of family must be recreated. I have been
stopped selecting “people sensitive” leaders and replaced
a loyal customer of Delta Airlines for over 30 years. They
them with people who only saw dollars, the inner design of
have been my airline of choice. When I first started building
organizations took a turn away from “caring” to “using.”
a relationship with them, the thing that impressed me the
People are the human capital that produces the dollars
most was the family attitude. When you talked to anyone
that result in profit. When the human capital begins to feel
at Delta, they referred to the Delta Family. I remember
disposable, the inner organizational spirit weakens and
when that started falling apart – it was when those at the
results in the loss of morale.
top made the decision to out source baggage handling.
It was like they had thrown one part of the family away.
That sent a message throughout the rest of the Delta – we Hear me! There must be a “Rebuilding of Morale”. There
are no longer a family; we are individuals who are a cost must be leaders who see their human capital as valuable
factor, not an asset. and reinvest in recreating that Family Spirit. When morale
is strong, so is the company.
Since then, I have watched the “Spirit” of Delta be
weakened by the break-up of the Delta Family. People What must be done to Rebuild Morale?
who are united in a crusade are stronger than people who
simply have a job. Out sourcing has become an enemy
to the inner strength of companies and organizations. So
Everyone must be aligned around a common
many of the out sourcing decisions have been made to put
agenda that produces respect and the feeling of
more money to the bottom line, rather than strengthen the
being valued and appreciated. Let me say it to you
internal commitment to keeping the “family spirit” strong.
one more time – the #1 thing a human wants to know
is that they matter! All human lives collide at the point of
agendas. When people are not on the same page, there
Have you ever watched what greed can do to a family? It will be emotional collisions that result in divisions, cliques
destroys that spirit that says, “We are in this together.” It and the loss of quality. When that happens you get parts
takes away the attitude that says, “We can fight with each of the person, not the total person. The result will be an
other, but don’t attack one of our family members or you organization struggling with a morale issue. People must
will have to take on all of us.” feel leadership appreciates whom they are, values what
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