A Positive Attitude at Work

 

Maintaining a positive attitude at work will benefit your career and steer you towards a promotion. Our behavior at work often depends on how we feel about being there. Therefore, making sense of how people behave depends on understanding their work attitudes.
An attitude refers to my opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment. We have attitudes toward the food we eat, people we interact with, courses we take, and various other things.

However, maintaining a positive attitude on a daily basis in the workplace is harder than you may think. Work is stressful and challenging, and most professionals face deadlines and obstacles on a weekly (if not daily) basis. This is not an environment that fosters a positive attitude – you really have to work at it.
We’ve decided to not only tell you how you can convey your positive attitude at work to your colleagues and superiors, but also why it is important and how you will benefit from this attitude shift.

1.       Use Positive Language
No matter how long you’ve been with a company and how comfortable you may be around your colleagues, you should never use profanity. If it slips out in a high-stress situation we can let it slide, but you cannot swear on a regular basis. This is a professional environment, and the use of profanity immediately ignites a negative aura into its surroundings.

2.       Never Criticize Anyone
There is a difference between criticism and constructive feedback. Always use the method where you begin by complimenting the individual on something they’ve done well, and follow it up with a suggestion on how to improve their performance. Also, ensure to have this conversation in private. The individual will respect your feedback, and also respect the fact that you brought awareness to the situation in a professional manner.

3.       Stay Away From Gossip
Nothing eats away at a teamwork environment worse than gossip does. Whether team members are gossiping about colleagues or their personal problems, avoid the situation altogether. If you are caught in the conversation, act as a listener who does not provide any input. Maintaining a positive attitude at work means that you are a team player who provides all team members with respect. By refraining from joining a gossip circle, you can ensure that you maintain that level of respect.

4.       Put Teamwork First
When a team member has performed well, let them know. Offering pats on the back and compliments on a job well done are two simple and easy ways to foster a positive teamwork environment. In the same regard, when the team is faced with an obstacle, be sure to offer solutions and next steps rather than focusing on the negatives. Approach each obstacle with a “glass half full” mentality and you will create a positive outlook that will catch on to the rest of the team.

5.       Don’t Complain
Every day is not a good day – but don’t let everyone on the team know that. You may have been stuck in standstill traffic that morning, or experienced a 45-minute delay on your train ride, but you can’t let those variables affect your work. If you are in a foul mood, ensure you walk it off before you get to the office. That way, instead of ranting to your colleagues about how terrible your morning was, you can poke fun at your bad luck and give everyone a chuckle. Laughing at your unfortunate circumstances will keep the work environment positive, where ranting will add negativity and diminish the upbeat working tone of the office.
 

SETTING A REALISTIC GOALS & OBJECTIVES FOR A BUSINESS

 

As business owner, it’s important that you take the time to set goals and review your business as a whole.

Having clear, well-defined goals can:

• help your business grow
• achieve your objectives
• improve teamwork and collaboration
• help everyone understand the direction your business is heading in.

 Nothing happens until we plan and a good plans have goals and objectives. Setting goals and objectives correctly goes a long way in helping in the achieving them. Before I dive into how we go about setting SMART objectives we need to be aware of the difference between goals and objectives. 

A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envisions, plans and commits to achieve. It relate to our aspirations, purpose and vision. For example, I have a goal of becoming financially independent, this is a goal. 

Objectives are the battle plan, the stepping stones on the path towards the achievement of my goal. Its a basic tool that underlie all planning and strategic activities. They serve as the basis for creating policy and evaluating performance. Some examples of business objectives include minimizing expenses, expanding internationally, or making a profit. 

Therefore, a goal may have one or many objective that I would need to fulfill to achieve a goal. 

For example, to become financially independent I would need to 

1) get out of debt,

2) improve my saving and 

3) start a business.

 

The most well known method for setting objectives is the S.M.A.R.T. way, the SMART approach is well understood among managers, but I’ve found poorly practiced. S.M.A.R.T refers to the acronym that describes the key characteristics of meaningful objectives, which are

Specific (concrete, detailed, well defined), 

Measureable (numbers, quantity, comparison), 

Achievable (feasible, actionable),  

Realistic (considering resources) and 

Time-Bound (a defined time line). Lets look at these characteristics in more detail.

 

SMART objective then are the stepping stones to the achievement of our goals……

Specific

Specific means that the objective is concrete, detailed, focused and well defined. Specific means that it’s results and action-orientated. 

Objective must be straightforwards and emphasize action and the required outcome. it need to be straightforward and to communicate what you would like to see happen. 

To help set specific objectives it helps to ask:

• WHAT am I going to do? This are best written using strong, action verbs such as conduct, develop, build, plan, execute, etc. This helps your objective to be action-orientated and focuses on what’s most important.

• WHY is this important for me to do?

• WHO is going to do what? Who else need to be involved?

• WHEN do I want this to be completed?

• HOW am I going to do this?  

“The successful man is the average man, focused.” - Unknown

Diagnostic Questions

• What exactly are we going to do, with or for whom?   

• What strategies will be used?

• Is the objective well understood?

• Is the objective described with action verbs?

• Is it clear who is involved?

• Is it clear where this will happen?

• Is it clear what needs to happen?

• Is the outcome clear?

• Will this objective lead to the desired results?

Achievable

Objectives need to be achievable, if the objective is too far in the future, you’ll find it difficult to keep motivated and to strive to attain it. Objectives, unlike your aspirations and visions, need to be achievable to keep you motivated. I do feel that objectives need to stretch you, but not so far that you become frustrated and lose motivation.

Diagnostic Questions

•  Can we get it done in the proposed time-frame?

• Do I understand the limitations and constraints?

• Can we do this with the resources we have?

• Has anyone else done this successfully?

• Is this possible?

Realistic

Objectives that are achievable, may not be realistic….. however, realistic does not mean easy. Realistic means that you have the resources to get it done. The achievement of an objective requires resources, such as, skills, money, equipment, etc. to the task required to achieve the objective. Whilst keeping objectives realistic, ensure that they stretch you. Most objectives are achievable but, may require a change in your priorities to make them happen.

Diagnostic Questions

• Do you have the resources available to achieve this objective?
• Do I need to revisit priorities in my life to make this happen?
• Is it possible to achieve this objective?  

Measurable

If the objective is measurable, it means that the measurement source is identified and we are able to track the actions as we progress towards the objective. Measurement is the standard used for comparison. For example, what financially independence means to me, may be totally different compared to what is means for you. As it’s so often said if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it! It’s important to have measures that will encourage and motivate you on the way as you see the change occurring, this may require interim measures. Measurements go along way to help us to know when we have achieved our objective.

Diagnostic Questions

• How will I know that the change has occurred? 
•   Can these measurements be obtained?

Time-Bound

Time-bound means setting a deadlines for the achievement of the objective. Deadlines need to be both achievable and realistic. If you don’t set a time you will reduce the motivation and urgency required to execute the tasks. Timeframes create the necessary urgency and prompts action.

Diagnostic Questions

• When will this objective be accomplished?
• Is there a stated deadline?

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” – Unknown