Life

has been structured in such a way to give a chance to rectify that which is not in optimal operation. Everything living has a way of sending signals whenever all is not well. This, in my view, is done by the presence of the spirit in all forms of life. Whenever something is on the verge of going bad, life will send you a sign in advance so you can take charge and rectify.

Recap

In the previous article, we started identifying part of the ten signs that show you that your “Spirit” is suffering, especially the spirit of an organization. I am sure the same symptoms can be used, for individuals. The following are some of the signs that the spirit is suffering as covered in the previous article:

1. Lack of Passion
2. Lack of Creativity
3. Lack of Enthusiasm
4. High Turnover
5. Stunted Growth

The rest of the Five

Let us finish up this topic by covering the rest of the five signs to look out for if you want to diagnose the state of the spirit of your organization.

e

6. Grumbling

Let me explain. Whenever something is wrong people will speak up. However, I have come to realize too that whenever there is a disconnect, people will grumble. There is a heaven and earth difference between speaking up and grumbling. Those who grumble will, for the most part, be them who are disconnected from the spirit of the organization. Their murmuring and grumbling is a sign of what is wrong within them. Otherwise, if they cared well enough, they would speak up. Those who care well enough are those who are connected to the spirit of the organization. Grumblers, for the most part, will start of by keeping quiet and when they find a perfect mate, they start.

7. Low Levels of Engagement

The spirit will always move people to action. Whenever you find people that are not active, it will be because they are either disconnected from the spirit, tired an needing to rest or just flat out disinterested. The problem is that they have to earn something at the end of the month or the week and so they have to stay around to “earn it”. People who stay in the organization just to earn pay, for the most part, are disengaged from the spirit of the organization. How will you know such people? It is easy to gauge by their performance, body language and standard of work.

8. Lack of Interest

Whenever there is the spirit in the organization in abundance, you will see lots of people being excitedly curious about the prospects of the organization. They ask questions whose answers will help them protect and be proud of the organization. If you notice that people are no longer curious, the freshness of the spirit of the organization might have taken a hit. Lack of interest in matters related to the organization is something that can easily be connected to the suffering organizational spirit.

9. Apathy

When low levels of engagement are not addressed, there comes a time that the attitude changes to total indifference. There is an open apathy towards the organization and a disinterest in the prosperity of the organization. This is because their connection to the spirit of the organization is no longer there, or it wasn’t there in the first place. Therefore, if the organization flourishes, or if it doesn’t, people who have apathy do not care either way.

10. Affront

Employees will openly be fighting the organization at any opportunity. When asked by outsiders about the organization, they will paint the darkest picture that their minds can muster. The spark for their negative branding will, for the most part, be half-truths. They would want to see the demise of the organization for one reason or another. This one can both be easy to notice or it can still be difficult to see because the affront is seldom to your face. There is no way that someone who is connected to the spirit of the organization will be engaged in an all-out affront against it. When it gets to this level, the answer is probably not to reteach purpose but to get a replacement.