Gift Basket Business Blog

Help Your Employees Change “Bad Attitudes”

February 25th, 2008 at 10:10am Lorie Obernauer

How many times have you described one of your employees as having a “bad attitude”? Well, what exactly does this mean? When we talk about “attitude”, we generally refer to a state of mind, a mental state that causes us to behave in certain ways. Actually, when we say that someone has a “bad attitude”, we are actually reacting to certain behaviors.

This month, Gourmet Retailer Magazine includes an article that all business owners and supervisors should read. The article, entitled “Staff Training: Focusing on Behaviors Rather than Attitudes” suggests that it’s better to focus on employees’ behaviors, rather than on their attitudes simply because we can’t read minds!

The author gives an example that illustrates the difference between trying to deal with attitudes vs. behaviors: “Eyes rolling up in the head, loud, drawn-out sighs and crossed arms are behaviors that often indicate a person is bored. But these same behaviors could also indicate annoyance, disagreement, impatience, or several other feelings or attitudes. Telling an employee, “you have a bad attitude just invites the reply, “no, I don’t”. And since there’s no way to prove that another person is feeling a a certain way if they tell you they aren’t, the discussion itself is a waste of time. On the other hand, rolling eyes, shoulder-heaving signs and crossed arms are specific, observable behaviors and it’s perfectly appropriate to set the expectation that those behaviors are not acceptable when interacting with customers or co-workers”.

Read the full article for some suggestions on how to deal with employees’ behaviors that you think may be detrimental to your business. Learn how to change employees’ behaviors and you’ll see how their attitudes also come around.

Entry Filed under: Business Tips