Team Morale

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Team Morale

• Michael Snipas, Lead Technician
• Desktop Support Service

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New SUPERvisor Series

• Final project March 2009

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• When morale decreases for whatever reason,
  productivity usually tumbles right along with it.
  Costly employee absenteeism, accidents, turnover
  and dissatisfaction increase. Without your
  concern and action to attack the causes of
  decreasing morale, the mood, motivation and
  activity levels of your employees may be at
  risk.
• 
  entrepreneur.com

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My Project Goals for Staff Development

• To create team unity
• To produce open communication
• To increase productivity
• All to ultimate improve morale within our unit.

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Background

• 4 technicians assigned to me
• Experience level ranges between 1-16 years
• 2 technicians covering 2 zones on campus.
• Total number of buildings 40
• Mix of faculty, staff and students

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Org Chart for DSS Zone 3 and 4My current team
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How to Improve Staff Morale

• Encourage open communication
• Relevant and ongoing training
• Consideration of Employee Lives Outside the Work
  Environment
• Teambuilding Exercises
• Recognition Schemes

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Encouraging Open Communication

• Provide support of new ideas within the team.
• Listen to concerns regarding work issues.
• Encourage team members to work with their partners

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Training

• Have team review courses provided on GMU site
  (smartforce.gmu.edu)
• Encourage focus on specialized training course
  that benefits the university, unit and team
  members (Apple Certification and A )
• Attend HR Customer Service Certification courses
  provided by the university

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Consideration of Workers Lives Outside the
Work Environmentotherwise known as work-life
balance.

• Be able to flex technician time for personal
  issues, illness and vacation
• Genuinely ask about family or other topics of
  importance (wife, husband, kids, pets)
• Make the connection by finding common ground.
  Talk about hobbies, sports, and travel.

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Teambuilding Exercises

• Work together on large projects.
• Work together on difficult problems.
• Training each other on specialized equipment.

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Recognition Schemes

• Caught in the Act Awards.
• Employee of the Month.
• Good job noticed in group meetings.
• Paid breakfast and / or lunch meetings.
• One on one comments.

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Results

• Increased willingness to work together.
• More calls closed on average.
• Positive feedback from customers.

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Purpose of this project

• To improve morale with the 4 technicians assigned
  to me.
• To give the technicians a sense of pride in the
  work that they do.
• To increase productivity by using the tools that
  the university and the department that they
  provide me

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Steps taken to ensure successful outcome

• Work with a small reward program to highlight
  minor accomplishments.
• Share positive feedback with technicians and the
  department manager submitted by GMU faculty and
  staff.
• Host breakfast meetings with technicians and
  other members of our technical staff, budget
  permitting.
• Hold formal one to one mentoring sessions with
  the technicians.
• Recognize that coachable moments can happen
  during informal moments too.

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What was the outcome?

• Clear communication among the technicians
• A faster response time with service calls
• A more cohesive team environment
• Increased morale within our group

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What did you learn from this process?

• Understanding the importance of better
  communication (actively listening and talking)
• The value or rewarding technicians and how they
  impact work productivity.
• Being cognizant of the cause and effect
  relationships. Increase in morale lead to higher
  productivity. Increase in morale and productivity
  lead to pride in a accomplishments (individually
  and as a team) and a sense of value and ownership.