[Logicaly]

As someone at my company who has had the opportunity to work in both a management and non-management position, I have been fortunate enough to see it from both sides in terms of morale.

From an employee standpoint, its important that I do my part in keeping team morale up, by being an active member of the team. I give praise to my fellow team mates, interact with them on a regular basis, and really just follow the basic principles of being a good person.

As a Manager, its important for me to make sure I point out the good things my direct reports do, and not just the bad. I have found that if I make myself available to them, and I mean truly available to them, even if its because they are just having an off day, that it makes them feel more comfortable in their job, and that they do a better job, and enjoy it while they do it. I'm very transparent in my management style, so I call it out when someones rocking the numbers, and the team as a whole seems to enjoy it because they know if they shine, they will get that recognition. On that same note, I empower all of them to shine, and I make that incredibly clear in all of my interactions with them.

If management sets the right tone, and encourages growth, gives praise where praise is due, it really goes a long way. Its amazing what a simple hey, you are doing a killer job, keep it up, can do!

My company as a whole, also embraces both positive, and negative experiences. For positive, we have a love machine (get your minds outta the gutter folks!) where if a fellow employee does something good, we send them love, every love they get has a dollar value tied to it and we get a love bonus at the end of each quarter. That being said, we also embrace the negative, if we make a mistake, we own it, we learn from it. We do shrek ears. Oh yes, if we fub up, we put on shrek ears, so people can ask us what we did to earn them (yes earn...mistakes happen, it means you tried something different, and are learning from it), and it fosters an environment where you are not ridiculed, but it becomes a learning opportunity for everyone.

Morale is a top down sort of deal, it comes from the culture your executives set, and it runs down stream from there. It takes everyone in every position to help promote positive morale, and it really only takes one person to bring down morale.

I guess my take away would be, lead by example. Praise makes you feel good, so make sure you are passing it on. If you are looking for other types of things you can do, write an actual hand written thank you note when you want to thank someone. I send care packages to my direct reports to show my appreciation. I have a lot of remote staff, so I let them go buy themselves dinner, and have them expense it, so that its on the company. There are lots of physical things you can do to make people feel good, but a lot of it really comes from the culture you set within the company, and the team itself.