Leadership and workplace morale

New initiatives, the Big Society, budget cuts, ever-increasing service demands and mushrooming workloads all have the potential to pile stress on overstretched staff. What can charity leaders do to preserve productivity and avoid the hidden costs of losing touch with the people at the sharp end?

A garden requires structure, good soil, well prepared beds, and of course, plants. You can put in the very best specimens, but if you expect them to flourish and deliver without nutrients and water, you will be disappointed. If you only water that pot of basil on your window ledge when it droops, it will flag and die over time.

Similarly, the weakening of a workforce under stress can be slow and painful. Organisationally you will start to see more sickness absence, more grievances, less commitment and more conflict, all draining the charity of precious energy. Bullying may increase as managers attempt to meet seemingly impossible demands. Some staff will vote with their feet, generating the considerable cost of recruiting and training a replacement.

For individuals, prolonged stress can interfere both with the way the body prevents illness, and with the way it heals, particularly in the case of some cancers. The idea that continual stress compromises our immune response is now widely accepted in the medical profession. The implications for organisations are stark, and the cost of a successful tribunal claim for stress-related constructive dismissal is huge.

As a leader, you may not be able to lower the pressure, but how you behave at meetings will make all the difference to how people respond to this pressure. If you are alert and at ease you will be able to connect more directly with others. When you are aware of the world around you it will be noticed and appreciated.

It takes hard work and energy to meet the exacting demands faced by so many organisations. People will stay buoyant if they feel appreciated and not taken for granted. A genuine 'thank you' goes a long way. If you can build internal relationships based on respect and collaboration rather than silo-induced blame, you stand a better chance of keeping good people committed. Setting the tone and staying connected to your over-pressed managers will help discourage any inclination they may have to meet setbacks with punishment instead of rigorous learning. Of course, real underperformance must be managed effectively and quickly. Thanking the passenger in the team will only breed resentment.

However open and supportive you are, some individuals may lose their resilience. Offering ways to help them recover their balance can have huge benefits both for you and for the organisation. And remember to water the basil.

Ann Lewis, Leadership coach and former charity HR director
Author of Recover Your Balance - how to bounce back from bad times at work.
www.annlewiscoaching.com

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