Despite being notoriously difficult to quantify, morale remains a cornerstone of effective team-working and should be actively managed by the successful Project Manager.
There are several reasons why this rarely happens.
Like many interpersonal matters, morale indicators are easily misinterpreted: Is the reason that people are not turning-up for meetings a problem with morale, or is everyone productively focused and getting the job done? Are the increasingly terse emails disrespectful or a sign that people are relaxed and feel they can get straight to the point without the need to waffle?
There is an undeniable reluctance, particularly among men, of confronting (or even recognizing) personal or emotional issues in the workplace.
Morale is also an unseen and largely unquantifiable quality; yet Project Management is all about measurement, identification and documentation.
Perhaps the hardest thing to reconcile is that morale management is as difficult to learn as it is to teach. It is also a soft skill with a many to many dimension that most of us are ill-equiped to deal with.
There are many recurring themes to poor morale which are apparent to the more experienced manager, but with a little forethought we can spot most of them.
Is there any history here?
Have any of the team worked together before and if so how was their relationship? You'd be surprised at just how many organizations allow antagonists to continue working together for the sake of expediency or simply because nobody has bothered to address the problem.
If two people don't get on you must get them to agree to differ or split them up. This sort of friction soon permeates the whole team as the protagonists will usually spend an inordinate amount of time enlisting others to their cause.
What does the future look like?
It may be known that at some stage the project will require very long working hours or that a plum portion of work will be given to outsiders (contractors, offshore etc).
If these are likely to cause problems then recognize the risks and try to deal with them early on - living in denial is a sure way to lose your team's commitment and goodwill. Explain why things are likely to happen and compensate in advance of the issue.
An example would be to offer people time off in lieu before asking them to work weekends. This acknowledges what they will be asked to do and also puts the onus on them to return the favour.
Take the rough with the smooth.
If you're outsourcing some really interesting work then also pass on some tedious tasks. There's little more demoralizing than working through a project doing all the crud while the really interesting stuff is farmed out (often at greater cost than if completed in-house). If this caused by a resource or time constraint then make sure that you take the time to explain this properly.
Does your team (or you) understand and believe in the project?
It's all too easy to expect people to complete a piece of work simply 'because it's there', without bothering to provide the bigger picture and give some understanding of the technical/business drivers behind the project.
The reasons why a particular approach or technology has been chosen might be perfectly sound but if that selection process is not explained then people will inevitably challenge the thinking behind it.
These are some fundamental people skills that are often talked about but rarely practised.
Share - if knowledge is power then sharing knowledge is empowering. It is almost unbelievable that in this age of openness and transparency the 'need to know' policy is still so pervasive. Viewed from another angle this term could be replaced by 'need to be kept in the dark' which far better describes its impact. There will be good reasons not to communicate everything, but transparency should be the norm.
Listen - aside from being great for morale, there are many problems and issues which team members discuss amongst themselves but do not raise formally. There will be many problems that might have been solved 'if only someone had listened'. You will also find that the simple act of listening will help people's morale and it shows that you at least recognize their issues and are concerned.
Engage - your team should be part of the decision making process. Once underway there will invariably be options to consider and changes to be made and this is a great opportunity to really impart project ownership to the team. Ensure that you are not limiting their involvement to a rubber stamping exercise.
Respond - there is no use spending time and effort polling your stakeholders and team for input and then doing nothing. If circumstances demand it, then take action and make changes.
Celebrate - success comes in stages and while we cannot celebrate each achievement, there will be milestones that provide an opportunity to re-invigorate your team and consolidate a high performance culture.
Good morale is usually a happy accident of a successful project, but it is rarely actively managed.
The effort and thought required to keep your team motivated will be repaid by the extra effort and thought that they will put into your project.
There are many issues that surface in a project which are directly related to poor morale or could be more easily resolved by an enthusiastic workforce.
Unlike many 'nice to haves', good morale generally costs very little and can provide benefits in ways that you may never have even considered.