What do you think is most important in your organization, high productivity or high morale? Don’t we all agree that having both is ideal? Finding a balance between the two is a worthy goal but which should be the focus of your organization?
This is a question that I am not sure I have a definitive answer for.
I work for a national 501(c)3 not for profit organization and like most non-profits we are always trying to do more with less (not sure this is exclusive to non-profits). We have way more work and needs than we have people to do the work. I know that I personally could work 100 hours a week with no watercooler time and still have 100 hours of work sitting on my desk the next morning. High productivity is needed.
My job and all the jobs in my company are very demanding and often require nights and weekends to be sacrificed. As people give up their personal and family time for the requirements of employment morale dips.
When morale dips, productivity dips.
We, like many companies, try to create opportunities for the team to bond but it doesn’t always produce the desired outcomes. Team bonding exercises can often eat into the bottom line financially with no noticeable benefit. Let me give you a couple of recent examples that my company tried. One was incredibly effective and the other only moderately.
1- Annually the entire staff takes 3 days for a staff planning conference and retreat. We drive about three hours away and get hotel rooms and plan breakout sessions, training sessions, brainstorming exercises and year reviews. One of the evenings we do something special for the staff, reserve a room at a nice restaurant and take the team out for socializing and fine food.
2- We contacted a local food truck and had them park in front of our building for a couple of hours and sell to any interested staff. We did not offer to provide any food or subsidy for the experience just arranged the truck.
On the surface you may think that experience number one had the most impact and positive effect on staff morale. You would be wrong. In the nearly 10 years I have worked with my company nothing has had the effect on morale that the food truck experience had. I think this happened for a few different reasons.
1- Required- The staff retreat was required for all to attend. Regardless of personal commitments and other family responsibilities each staff member was given enough notice and expected to participate. The food truck was 100% optional.
2- Money Outlay- At the staff conference the expenses were covered by the company. This was expected because the conference was mandatory. However, because the financial responsibility was on the company it wasn’t appreciated as much as something personally paid for.
3- Organic- This is probably the biggest factor contributing to the difference in the impact of the two experiences. The staff conference was planned, coordinated and felt forced. The food truck was natural and created a buzz around the office in anticipation. There was no expectation just natural excitement
4- Options- The staff conference was planned and coordinated during every hour. From the time you ate breakfast to the evening activities. Although many of the sessions were very well done, and some were fun, there was not chance to choose your own adventure. With the food truck you could go out when you pleased, split items with co-workers and even return multiple times. People congregated in front of the truck just to talk, laugh and see what was chosen.
5- Expectation- expecting employees to participate in any activity automatically separates those who will enjoy the activity and those who will criticize. It also sets the expectation that the experience will either live up to fail to live up to.
6- During Work Hours- People are very protective of their personal time. We spend so much time and focus on our work that when we do have time off we really want to enjoy it and use that time as we see fit. As important as staff conferences are they take personal time away from the employee which necessitates balance with family responsibilities etc. Activities that allow staff to bond but do so without eating into personal time are more powerful and create better morale building experiences.
There are a lot of reason we need to have our annual staff planning conference and the whole event is beneficial to staff, preparing each person for the upcoming year by setting expectations and defining roles. But, for all the time and financial investment it cannot compare to the power that an optional organic staff experience can have on employee morale and camaraderie. We should be doing both types of morale building exercises but shouldn’t be surprised if the returns on investments are different. We cannot do a food truck every week or it would become expected and just another distraction…it’d become a staff planning conference.
Question: What is your favorite organic staff morale experience? Leave your comments below or by clicking here.
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