Got the Monday Morning Blues? Four Places to Look to Take Your Organization’s Temperature

It’s Monday morning. What’s your gut tell you tell you about the week ahead? Are you ready to go? Excited for the challenges and collaboration with your peers? Or are you on your third cup of coffee hiding in your office full of dread about how the next five days are going to unfold?

You know intuitively when the organizational culture is not working. You feel it. In your bones. In your heart. And in the throbbing in your left temple at the end of the day. Knowing there’s a problem is easy. But what specifically has gone awry? What levers can you pull to make things better? And where are the places where the smallest change will result in the biggest impact? The first step is to take the temperature of your organization.

When we do an organizational assessment, we typically look in eight key places. Here are four:

• Morale

What’s the mood in the office? How often do you hear laughter? Or do the complaints and grousing far outweigh the fun?

• Trust

Do your colleagues believe what you say? Do you believe them? If you have to pause to think, chances are trust is comprised.

• Teamwork

Can you rely on your teammates to follow through? Do you collaborate, even if it doesn’t directly benefit you? Do others do the same for you?

• Rewards/Recognition

Do employees feel valued? Rewarded for what they contribute? If your team is not feeling valued and seen for all that they do, it compromises the organizational culture.

Which one resonates most with you? It’s not necessary for an organization to be hurting in each and every one of these categories in order to feel the heat. Sometimes one or two are more important than others. What you need to know is where to look so you can have the greatest impact.

Join me and my colleague Loraine Della Porta on Monday, March 27 from 12:00-2:00 at the Nonprofit Center, 89 South St., Boston for a free, interactive and engaging Power Lunch workshop on Organizational Climate Assessment. We’ll talk some more about all eight areas and how to get a good reading of what’s going on. We will also share a few quick tips on how to do it so that employees feel valued, listened to and respected.

For more information or to register, please contact us at info@themediationgroup.org. See you there!