Positive Attitude at Work: 11 Ways to Sustain Employees Attitude

The two most powerful things in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture. Cool thought from Ken Langone. We are all very aware of the impact of a positive attitude at work on the performance of employees. Don’t you often want to know or refresh the secrets of building and sustaining employees positive attitude at work?
positive attitude at work
Positive attitude at work
Before I give you the ways to build and sustain employees positive attitude, let me tell you a story about the attitude of a friend of mine.
He desired that his role in life was to do work to make a difference in people’s lives. For the first 20 years, he worked in television news, believing in the people’s right to know.
For the past six years, he has been in the field of education, helping teachers and their students.
He recognized he realized he had solid problem-solving skills and the strong belief in a positive attitude during his freshmen year after he went to the soup kitchen in Parkersburg to serve food to the less fortunate.
He felt that he needed to do something more, so he implemented his idea that when everybody moved out of perishable food away, students could put it in a box, and he would take it to the local food bank so it could feed the poor.
He ended up gathering about six carloads of canned and dry food help feed the poor that would have otherwise been thrown away. This reinforced his belief and desire to make a difference and continually focus on his outgoing attitude.
His leadership skills were called into question by his first evaluation as a district manager and he was rated much lower than ever been before. This taught him that after having been promoted to a new position, he needed to learn a lot more.
Determined to never again get a low rating, he learned as much as he possibly could, and this quest for knowledge, continuous learning, and a sustained positive attitude became the driving force behind his overall career.
Related post: Building Collaboration and Sharing Skills in your Staff
Here is one more very short story to illustrate the importance of a person’s positive attitude and influence. You will perhaps have heard this very old story illustrating the difference between positive thinking and negative thinking:
Many years ago two salesmen were sent by a British shoe manufacturer to Africa to investigate and report back on market potential.
The first salesman reported back, “There is no potential here – nobody wears shoes.”
The second salesman reported back, “There is massive potential here – nobody wears shoes.”
This simple short story provides one of the best examples of how a single situation may be viewed in two quite different ways – negatively or positively.
We could explain this also in terms of seeing a situation’s problems and disadvantages, instead of its opportunities and benefits.
When telling this story its impact is increased by using exactly the same form of words (e.g., “nobody wears shoes”) in each salesman’s report. This emphasizes that two quite different interpretations are made of a single situation.
If you are in a business where you deal with people on a regular basis, like we are, your motivation and attitude need to be in ‘top gear’ (as it will usually impact most issues of the day).
 By spending 5-10 minute at the beginning of each work day reading and thinking of the items in the following simple checklist, we find our employees are the best they can be for the day’s activities:
 
Listenbefore speaking and listen more than you speak.
 
You can only help peoplewho want to be helped.
appreciate and respect
Appreciate and respect others.
Appreciate and respectdifferences in others.
  
Don’t waste your energyon negative people or situations.
 
 You can’t predict the future so why think that you can.
 
You won’t please everyonedon’t worry about those you don’t.
 Not everyone you meetis going to like you.
 
 Only YOUcontrol your destiny. Take initiative on your own behalf.
  
It is not always worth itto get the last word.
  
smiles matter
Smiles matter a ton, don’t they?
Smiles … matter
 
Employees positive attitude … strangers … are friends in waiting
 
And most importantjust breathe.
 
Remember … the pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. By focusing on a positive daily attitude we are much more inclined to be the optimist and find the opportunity, aren’t we?
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What do you do to get yourself and those around you in the right frame of reference for top performance?  Does it ring true to you? Do you have an experience of employees’ positive attitude to share with this community?
 
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff’s leadership, teamwork, and collaboration? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a team or leadership workshop?
 
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Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
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Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
 
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
  
More leadership material from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Leadership Characteristics that Improve Influence
10 Leadership Competencies You Should Not Live Without
Building Collaboration and Sharing Skills in your Staff
How to Create the Best Leadership Accountability
The Zen of Abraham Lincolns Leadership Lessons
  
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+FacebookTwitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Positive Attitude at Work: 11 Ways to Sustain Employees Attitude