As promised, here’s my first followup to the introduction to our Cultural Cornerstones. Remember, they are Attitude, Gratitude, Respect and Teamwork.
So, let’s spend a quick minute on Attitude . . .
According to my online dictionary, an attitude can be defined as a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in your environment. That’s a pretty solid description in my mind.
A Positive or Negative evaluation of something. How many times each day do we make these evaluations? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? We could argue that every second of the day we encounter a new opportunity to evaluate our surroundings, our tasks, etc. In that case, during an 8 hour office day, we each have 28,800 opportunities to reshape our attitudes. (Did I do that math correctly?)
Now, I have an occasional mood swing, but not every second, nor minute . . . and rarely even by the hour. How about you? So, realistically, it takes a pretty big surprise to knock me out of a fairly positive and focused attitude.
Here’s my proposition . . .
The Attitude we start each day with is likely to shape a good chunk of our day. If I suppose we each are capable of starting fresh each morning with a positive attitude, then perhaps our focus should be on those moments and circumstances that can derail all that good energy.
How do you handle surprises, unexpected challenges, curve-balls? What’s your first reaction? Where does your attitude immediately go? Important questions indeed, as your attitude can impact mine and so on. Sort of a chain reaction of bad mojo can spread like wildfire.
What if we each put a real focus on monitoring our own attitudes for the next few days? Would we find opportunities to focus on remaining positive more often? Would that focus result in a healthier work environment? Isn’t it possible that a positive attitude can be contagious?
Bottomline: We each have our moments of stress and frustration. Circumstances and challenges are often dumped upon us with no invitation. An attitude of “find a way to say yes” and “attack the problem, not the person” is how I personally stay on track. I’d like to think that also results in a positive outlook and approach to dealing with people. How do you encounter and respond to challenges and challenging people?
A positive attitude is one of our Cultural Cornerstones. It is essential on so many levels.
Take a minute (right now, while it’s on your mind) and share — on this blog — an example of a person here at Summit who has recently focused on keeping a positive attitude in a tough circumstance. Name them and publicly thank them. I’d love to see dozens of examples. If nothing else, your example should be a great reminder that we are a company with fantastic people who value each other and the work we’re asked to do.
Thanks for keeping a positive attitude at every turn. It makes a HUGE difference!
Michael
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