Elle Communicates

Understatement of the year but let’s move past that. Clearly I’ve neglected my blog for...about three years? When was my last post? I’m far too lazy to check. What I have to decide on now is subject matter. 

After graduating as an undergraduate, I struggled with putting into words exactly how my Liberal Arts degree could apply to jobs at large. Now granted, I might have had an easier time. After all, I had the language skills, international experience, and writing skills. These things made me very well suited to communications, and particularly any type of project management. However, despite the fact that I have added a great deal of skills to my ever-expanding set, sometimes I do have to stop and think at how my skills apply to certain positions. Recently I obtained a job as a Community Manager at Trium Entertainment on a freelance basis. I will say having a supervisor who understands how to navigate in this digital world is particularly refreshing. The world of Social Media is fluid -essentially, while there is a whole "other" type of "etiquette" that exists online, the fact is that it is a space where one can be creative in so many different ways to reach the targeted market. I was reading an article that was posted in 2011, about how Facebook changed the title "Community Manager", and the skills that went along with it. After looking at the article more in depth, I learned just how many of my skills I am using when operating in the digital space: Necessary Areas Of Expertise Strategic Community management on Facebook is not reduced to individual tactics. It maintains an overall objective that is relevant for the entire company. The community manager must be able to steer content management for the community in terms of strategic objectives. Community Management on Facebook runs throughout the entire value chain

Negativity in the workplace is often a persistent problem; negative employees create suspicion, tension, cliques and hostility, and undermine leadership. Allowing an employee to create a 'clique' is particularly a problem because there is always the possibility that it could create a hostile work environment.

According to German High Command Colonel Foertsch, morale is highly instrumental to winning a battle. For Foertsch, the final word regarding victory and defeat rests not on arms and equipment, nor the way in which they are used, nor even on the principles of strategy and tactics, but on the morale of the troops.

The military understands the importance of boosting the morale of their soldiers; from the recognition of achievement, to simply hiring a popular singer to come visit enlisted troops overseas. Even small gestures of appreciation can have a significant impact.

Much of corporate culture revolves around the ability to function as a team. For example, when you interview with a company, they want to know that you can be apart of the team. Those that hire have to evaluate if you would be the best fit for them, just as you, an individual, need be able to determine if the team is the best fit for you.

Unfortunately, many organizations tend to forget about company and employee morale. Conversely, even if the problem of low morale has been identified, a large company may concentrate team building exercises and activities into one or two locations, or in the branch of the organization that needs it least. The latter can be a huge mistake for an organization, particularly if they expect to grow and develop. Specifically, newer companies need to pay particular attention to the development of their corporate culture, as it sets the tone for what lies ahead.

The consequences of superior morale in battle is victory. Arthur Upham Pope attributes the success of Joan of Arc’s ten troops to a reinforcement of morale to maximum intensity. Similarly, a happy and positive employee is often the more effective one. A positive employee has better focus, dedication, and are more loyal to the company; they are more likely to put more effort into their work, as well as going the extra mile for the good of the company.

On the other hand, a negative employee does not simply leave their unhappiness at the office. A negative employee always has the potential to speak about their issues with the company with those outside of it, creating a negative perception of the company as a whole.

Particularly in the world of Social Media, where news travels fast, bad news has a tendency to travel faster than one may think. This could have an affect on how well the company can recruit new talent, or even how individuals view their products.

It only takes one particularly chatty employee to ‘spill the beans’ before enough people are aware of the issues –who in turn continue to circulate the stories, sometimes with embellishments added. It’s like the game of Chinese Whispers, where the story at the beginning barely resembles or differs completely from the story at the end.

If the popularity of websites like Yelp, Glassdoor, Pissed Consumer and Angie’s List have taught us anything? It’s that people care about the opinions of others when trying to make an informed decision. For example, Glassdoor is becoming an increasingly useful tool for jobseekers. Just as one is more likely to want to work for a company that has good reviews, they are just as likely to not want to work for a company that appears to have unhappy employees.

There are numerous examples of potential issues that poor employee morale may cause to an organization. Therefore, it should be a priority to maintain a good work atmosphere for all staff members. A company that undergoes rapid change that involves layoffs or termination, is most likely to have low morale

. The company reasoning behind job cuts is of little comfort to employees. They find it personally irrelevant and offers zero solace to confused and frazzled employees. From worries about job security, to speculation , which can range from the perception that the company is underperforming, or simply not doing well, to ideas of mismanagement. These are all factors that can dampen the overall effectiveness of an organization.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management 2010 Employee Job Satisfaction Report, job security and work benefits are the two most important aspects of employee satisfaction. Terminations and layoffs challenge both of those aspects, therefore it is no small wonder that it has a significant affect on morale. Furthermore, too much change in a short period of time, with little communication from management higher ups, only adds more fuel to the fire.

Given that low morale is often linked to lower productivity, a company that observes decreased productivity may react defensively. For example, instead of addressing the issues, employees may find themselves under increased stress and scrutiny to improve productivity. Unfortunately, this aggravates the situation, and can drive morale even lower. In fact, when one HR professional was asked if increased monitoring has a positive impact on productivity, they stated that:

“I’ve noticed that our employees tend to react negatively to increased monitoring. They tend to spend more time discussing the reason they are being monitored than working. When we relaxed monitoring of employees’ time and internet usage, the employees became more productive and had a more positive outlook on their position and view of the company.”

If employees are treated like they are indispensible, where is the incentive for them to work harder? The consequence is an employee that is simply working hard enough to not be terminated, not an employee that is necessarily working to their full potential. Unless there is strong evidence to suggest that an employee is deliberately doing as little work as possible, the underlying question always has to be: “Why the behavior? ” or if there was a change from productive to barely productive “Why the change?”. In this sense, communication is king, as lack of communication from management can cause further aggravation to an already volatile situation.

To conclude, growing companies in particular need to place a high emphasis on morale, and make sure that morale building efforts are consistent across the board. If one location receives more benefits than the other –you can be certain that it is noticed, and taken into consideration.

Clausewitz stated that in order to penetrate the “psychological fog” of war, the commander foremost requires sound judgment, and that in the dreadful presence of suffering and danger, emotion can easily overwhelm intellectual conviction, and it becomes hard to form clear and complete insights. If an employee consistently fears for their job, how then are they expected to maximize their true potential?