9 Surefire Ways To Destroy Employee Morale

George Roberts

March 20, 2012

I have been in the software industry for 33 years, starting as a sales rep and ending my career as an Executive Vice President and an operational executive with over 2,000 employees and a revenue budget of more than $1 billion. Over the years I have witnessed numerous ways in which companies, founders, CEOs and managers have hurt employee morale, which in turn hurt company performance and in some cases doomed them to failure.

 

 

When I read this article it brought a painful smile to my face as I thought about my personal experience in this area, so I thought I would share it with you. The article originally was in American Express’s OpenForum, but I found it in Business Insider.

 

Here are the 9 surefire ways to mess up your company’s morale:

  1. Not accepting responsibility for mistakes
  2. Calling employees out in public
  3. Dishonesty
  4. Setting impossible goals
  5. Threatening their jobs
  6. Giving vague or incomplete instructions
  7. Micromanaging
  8. Never offering any praise
  9. Holding workers back if they are doing well

 I would add 2 more to the list that always drove me crazy;

  • Telling your employees “NO” without an explanation
  • Not making a decision when one needs to be made, as procrastination is never good for morale

 

 

 

Again, you can catch the complete article here.

 

 

All the best!

 

G

 

 

 

Venture Partner

<strong>George Roberts</strong> is a Venture Partner at OpenView. He enjoys partnering with companies and helping them achieve their goals through strategy, focus and operational execution. From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as Executive Vice President of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and more than 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.