Morale Problems? Try Some Joint Problem Solving

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to work with the owner of a moderate-sized general automotive repair shop. Winter is approaching and, as usual, business is starting to taper off. He wanted to discuss ways to avoid the usual reduction in employee morale that seems to happen whenever business slows down.

As we traded emails on the subject, I was pleased to learn that he is already doing a number of good things to involve his employees in the business. One idea that we focused on was to get the employees more involved in solving business problems. He's already doing this to some extent, so doing more should be an easy matter and I think will produce some excellent results. 

I think that getting employees involved in attacking business problems is a great idea for a number of good reasons, so after that discussion was over I started listing reasons why so I could share them publicly with you.  

Here is my top ten list of reasons why joint problem solving could be a powerful answer to a morale problem. 

10. Any solution that has the support of the entire staff has a much greater chance of success than one you impose on your own. 

9.   Working together on one problem might generate ideas for addressing other problems as well. 

8.   Employees feel a greater involvement in the business.  

7.   Employees will get a better sense of how the business works. 

6.   Employees will have a stake in the action plan, and will work to ensure positive results. 

5.   Working together to address a mutual problem will build teamwork. 

4.   It will improve everyone's ability to do analysis and action planning, which will make it easier to successfully address problems in the future. 

3.   Employees who make solid contributions may soon see themselves as more valuable to the organization and will then feel a greater sense of responsibility for the success of the organization. 

2.   Employees who take lead roles in the action plan will develop their leadership skills. 

1.   Desire to see positive results from the action plan will increase motivation overall. 

When you add up all these reasons, you can see why it's so likely that working together to address a major business problem (such as a seasonal business slowdown) could have a very strong impact on employee morale. In truth, there's almost nothing to lose as long as you do it right. 

So, I should point out that there are some skills required to involve your employees effectively. You can find some suggestions in my article "How To Keep Your Best Ideas From Going Down in Flames," which you can read on my website. What's most important is to have a method of finding solutions together that you can trust and that helps everyone participate with ease.  

So how's your employee morale right now? And how is the business going? Maybe the best thing you could do right now would be to attack both problems at once. 

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