General counsel should make every effort to enlist help from the human resources department. People in that function understand how to assess morale and what steps to take to keep employees engaged and productive. They often have material that can be distributed and they have tools available to support their efforts, such as workshop agendas.
For example, the head of the law department might ask HR to carry out a survey of employees on how they feel about work. Or HR might help with some interviews of representative members of the law department to gain a more subjective understanding. HR also knows when special recognitions are available, such as spot bonuses.
At times, the general counsel might want to move ahead quickly with an idea rather than subject it to analysis, dilution, and delay from HR. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission. But for the most part the accumulated expertise of the HR function should be harnessed to the effort to keep the law department together and functioning well.