What do we mean when we talk about team morale? In short, morale is the spirit of a group that makes its members want the group to succeed. In times of crisis, advisory firms must adjust and adapt their businesses to rapidly changing conditions on the ground. These adjustments often affect bonuses, pay raises and promotions, and depending on the severity and duration of the crisis, can even impact how many of its people a firm can afford to keep on. As a result, team morale can take a hit, which can have a long-term impact on the culture of a firm. So what strategies can we employ to maintain and strengthen team morale in the face of a crisis?

In the third installment of our limited webcast series on Crisis Management, The Ensemble Practice CEO Philip Palaveev addresses the topic of Maintaining Team Morale in the wake of COVID-19 and how G2 leadership can buttress the spirit and optimism of their teams who are experiencing rapid and disorienting changes to their business practices, client relationships and team dynamics as their firms adjust to the "new normal."

The idea for this series came about as a way to deal constructively with the ongoing pandemic, using the current crisis as a learning tool and dipping into the well of knowledge represented by the G2 Community to retrieve best practices that firms can adopt and modify to fit their particular service models, governance structures and teams. The G2 Leadership Institute is a rigorous two-year simulation-based training program that develops the management and leadership skills of second-generation professionals so that they can take on key leadership roles at their advisory firms. You can learn more about the G2 Leadership Institute here. Applications for our next class open in June.

Survival of the Happiest: Why Team Morale Matters

Team morale affects every part of an organization. A firm that nurtures its culture and puts effort toward maintaining high team morale can expect to see dividends in the areas of financial performance, individual performance, client satisfaction and individual/team health.

1. Financial performance: High-morale companies have stronger earnings per share (EPS), stock performance, profit margin and profit per employee.
2. Individual performance: High job satisfaction leads to higher productivity and better performance. This correlation is stronger the more complex the job and has grown even stronger in recent years.
3. Client satisfaction: High morale not only correlates to but also results in higher customer satisfaction, longitudinal studies show.
4. Individual and team health: Management behavior and a sense of “justice” at work directly impact health outcomes for employees and result in lower rates of sickness, absenteeism and low energy or effort.

In his discussion of Maintaining Team Morale, Philip outlines the impact of high morale on an organization, key strategies for building, maintaining and strengthening it, and the role that leadership has to play in guiding their teams through the ups and downs of a crisis. We hope you enjoy this presentation and find it useful. Please stay tuned for our next episode in our Crisis Management webcast series, in which we will highlight several initiatives that G2 participants and alumni have undertaken to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the current crisis.