1. Get in front of your staff on a regular basis. Ask for questions and concerns. Solicit ideas. Then listen. And respond with the truth. 2. Get to know your direct reports. Find out what makes them successful as individuals. 3. Put together a team to collect employee ideas and input on a monthly or regular basis. Employees resent not being able to contribute. Install a suggestion box if you don’t already have one.4. Invest in professional development for your staff. “You absolutely must preserve some of your training money. You have to send them to training at least twice a year or they’ll leave the first chance they get,” says Beverly Lieberman, president of executive search firm Halbrecht Lieberman Associates. But don’t dole out training opportunities to only the choice few, as sometimes happens when money is tight. That will just create worse morale among the have-nots. 5. Remove the obstacles to getting training. With people spread so thin, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for them to take advantage of training. Use creative scheduling or get in some temporary help to ensure people can take courses. 6. Have senior management speak to your group about the business and its goals. “Even if there’s nothing really great to say, you have to tell them how you’re trying to keep the ship afloat,” says Lieberman. Put a cap on negative watercooler chat by formalizing the discussion. 7. Enlist help from human resources. Spend time with a senior HR person and brainstorm ways to bolster morale. 8. Go for executive training. This may be impractical with both time and money tight. But if there’s any way you can do it, take an executive development course at a premier institution such as Harvard, MIT or Stanford. 9. Get yourself a coach. Ask an HR professional to help you find a personal coach who can help boost morale. If the company can’t or won’t sponsor coaching services, pay for it yourself. 10. Get communication help. Cecil Smith, CIO of Duke Energy, has a dedicated communication professional, Andy Thompson, to help him disseminate information both inside and outside his organization. Smith was surprised to hear there was an IT communication role when he first joined Duke in 1995. Now he finds Thompson indispensable. “He’s been at my side since then,” says Smith. Related content feature Expedia poised to take flight with generative AI CTO Rathi Murthy sees the online travel service’s vast troves of data and AI expertise fueling a two-pronged transformation strategy aimed at growing the company by bringing more of the travel industry online. By Paula Rooney Jun 02, 2023 7 mins Travel and Hospitality Industry Digital Transformation Artificial Intelligence case study Deoleo doubles down on sustainability through digital transformation The Spanish multinational olive oil processing company is immersed in a digital transformation journey to achieve operational efficiency and contribute to the company's sustainability strategy. By Nuria Cordon Jun 02, 2023 6 mins CIO Supply Chain Digital Transformation brandpost Resilient data backup and recovery is critical to enterprise success As global data volumes rise, business must prioritize their resiliency strategies. By Neal Weinberg Jun 01, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Democratizing HPC with multicloud to accelerate engineering innovations Cloud for HPC is facilitating broader access to high performance computing and accelerating innovations and opportunities for all types of organizations. By Tanya O'Hara Jun 01, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe