Maintenance of morale
Create a positive environment by appreciating your people as people. Let them pursue who they care about and what they motivated by.
The final military principle of Maintenance of Morale refers to the concept of maintaining the psychological well-being of troops in combat situations. This principle involves providing soldiers with the necessary support, resources, and leadership to promote esprite-de-corps, maintain their motivation and commitment, and ultimately achieve success.
Similarly, for a sports club, the principle of Maintenance of Morale is essential for creating a positive and productive club environment. Maintaining high morale is critical for ensuring that committee members are motivated and committed to achieving the goals of the club with increased success flowing from there.
The term employer of choice has been trending for some time as a way to be seen as an employee friendly workplace. However, just like in a workplace where providing perks such as bean bags in the lunchroom or taco Tuesdays, etc. can provide a short term boost to morale, strong leadership and purpose will compensate for any "perk" in maintaining the morale of employees.
Leadership that genuinely empathically cares for the well-being of their people creates a supportive environment that fosters collaboration, teamwork, and open communication. Providing direction, role clarity, lines of effort, regular feedback, ways to participate in decision-making as well as ensuring development opportunities and recognition programs are present regardless of financial position of the club, will engender a positive emotional response, enhancing morale much more than Friday drinks. However, leadership fails without purpose. A person who doesn’t believe in the mission, will not be motivated to work at the coal face, no matter how strong the leadership.
Purpose is derived from the organisation’s vision. Circling back to the first Military Principle of Selection and Maintenance of the Aim, this involves communicating the values and goals of the business, and how each employee contributes to its success. It can also involve creating opportunities for employees to contribute to the direction of the business.
By adopting the principle of Maintenance of Morale, a small business can create a motivated and engaged workforce that is committed to achieving the business's goals. It allows a small business to foster a positive and productive work environment, where employees feel valued and invested in the success of the business. Ultimately, this can help a small business to improve customer satisfaction, increase profitability, and achieve long-term success.
“It is not enough to fight. It is the spirit which we bring to the fight that decides the issue. It is morale that wins the victory.” General George Catlett Marshall