AN IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOK
Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride, And Spirit
IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOKS
Aimed at managers and executives who are concerned with their own and others’ development, each guidebook in this series gives specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership problem.
| LEAD CONTRIBUTORS | Gene Klann |
| GUIDEBOOK ADVISORY GROUP | Victoria A. Guthrie |
| Cynthia D. McCauley | |
| Ellen Van Velsor | |
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS | Martin Wilcox |
| EDITOR | Peter Scisco |
| ASSOCIATE EDITOR | Karen Mayworth |
| DESIGN AND LAYOUT | Joanne Ferguson |
| CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS | Laura J. Gibson |
| Chris Wilson, 29 & Company |
Copyright © 2004 Center for Creative Leadership.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
CCL No. 426
ISBN-13: 978-1-882197-86-6
ISBN-10: 1-882197-86-0
CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
AN IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOK
Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride, And Spirit
Gene Klann
THE IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOK SERIES
This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) has generated in the course of more than thirty years of research and educational activity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands of managers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared—in a way that is distinct from the typical university department, professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply a collection of individual experts, although the individual credentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community, with its members holding certain principles in common and working together to understand and generate practical responses to today’s leadership and organizational challenges.
The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL’s mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. We think you will find the Ideas Into Action Guidebooks an important addition to your leadership toolkit.
Table of Contents
What Are Morale, Pride, and Spirit?
How to Build Morale, Pride, and Spirit
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
To build morale, pride, and spirit, a leader needs to possess certain characteristics and skills. This book will help you determine your current level of readiness in these areas. It describes two key factors: time spent together in shared experiences and communication among team members. When morale, pride, and spirit are enhanced, there is a positive response of cooperation and loyalty from team members toward the leader, the team, and the organization. Productivity and efficiency are enhanced, and there are tangible economic and relational outcomes. The leader is the key to the success of the entire process.
What Are Morale, Pride, and Spirit?
Morale is a reflection of the attitude or mental condition of an individual or team. People with high morale are generally positive, optimistic, cooperative, and supportive of their team’s vision and mission. They have a can-do attitude, persistence, harmony, and a willingness and determination to do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission. They can quietly but with great confidence in themselves and their team go about the business of completing their tasks.
People with pride respect themselves and the other members of their team, delight in the team’s achievements, and believe that whatever they must face, they can collectively and successfully handle it. They are proud of their team. There is a justifiable belief by the team members in their personal worth, as well as that of the team. Pride also results in the members’ identifying with the team and what it represents. The team now helps to define them.
Spirit is an animating principle that reveals itself in the vigor, energy, vivacity, and courage of the team members. It is routinely seen in successful sports teams and in crowd reactions during sporting events. Spirit can be contagious, motivational, and inspirational. It can be generated by the team’s leader or members with encouraging words, hand clapping, backslapping, singing, shouting, and so on.
When morale, pride, and spirit are present within a team, productivity is high, relationships are strong, and it is actually fun to go to work. Without morale,