Pep Talk: How Can I Boost Morale at Work?

How do you maintain motivation within your organization during times of doubt?

–Anonymous
Via Twitter

This situation has potential to be a win-win scenario. We are currently in an environment where you may be able to choose your own adventure if it means having a hand in growing or sparing the company’s bottom line. And ingenuity simultaneously contributes to your own professional growth and development.

In the story “Why Should I Care?” (Motivation, March 2009), we looked at avoiding apathy or indifference in the workplace and offered tips to revive interest. Among them: using (good) stress as a motivator to stand out or take action; showing you’re adaptable to change by taking on a new

forwp-incontent-ad2"> role; and adjusting your social network to attract more positive, creative support and interaction. The commonality in all these is to alter your thinking. Check out these books: The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal (Free Press; $15.95) by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, and Restore Yourself: The Antidote for Professional Exhaustion

(Execu-Care Books; $19.95) by Edy Greenblatt, Michael Allan Kirk, and Erin V. Lehman for more tips.

Also, do your best to keep the lines of communication open at work, as this is a period when your managers should be rebuilding trust, confidence and vision. Read “Rules of Engagement” (July 2009), which offers strategies for boosting employee morale during business hardship.

The best method for staying motivated in an organization is making any uneasy environment work in your favor. Refuse to lament over operating in a gray area–be determined to step out and paint your own vibrant color.

Tennille M. Robinson is the small business editor at Black Enterprise.