Apathetic attitude? ALR/ImaginOptinons, Inc.
In the workplace, people are evaluated on productivity, team work, creativity, accuracy, and any number of other important characteristics and actions. Communication is a vital part of each. While any one of these can set a person apart from peers as an excellent employee, excelling at one of these but being a poor communicator with peers, internal and external customers, and managers will hurt an employee’s professional reputation.
Routine communication with others sometimes brings a feeling of familiarity, a friendliness that opens the door to commenting positively or negatively on work, work conditions, coworkers, and management. Everyone can think of someone with whom they have a “working” acquaintance who shares happiness or woe wherever she goes.
When happiness is what is shared, such as positive words on the shared work, people respond to the person positively and may even look forward to other contacts with the person. However, if woe is shared, such as negative words about the shared work, people respond warily, perhaps unsure of what to say because they are not sure what will be repeated.
Often the words of such conversation are long forgotten; but the tone of voice, the resentment and hostility, is long remembered. If asked what that person’s usual tone of voice was, a variety of words would include:
• Angry
• Apathetic
• Frustrated
• Discontented
• Unhappy
• Unhappy
Attitudes toward work vary based on personality, experience, age, need, and desires. This is not to say that each person doesn’t have bad days when one’s attitude toward work is less than ideal. However, attitude is something that each person has control over.1 Attitude is a choice: People can choose to make the best of whatever life has given or choose to be unhappy.
William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”2 Try it out:
• Choose to be happy today.
• Choose to find the positive about something that is having a negative impact on work.
• Choose to speak even of frustrating things with a tone of voice that shows openness to learning and change.
Notes
1. Jerry’s story at http://www.buildfreedom.com/attitude.htm
2. http://www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
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