The training focuses on improving employee attitude at the workplace. It identifies good and bad workplace attitudes, explores how attitudes are formed and/or influenced and proposes measures to personally address your own bad attitude or address that of colleagues at work.

1. ATTITUDINAL CHANGE FOR
IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY

2. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this training, you will be able to:
• Determine what an attitude is
• Identify how attitudes are developedand/or influenced
• Identify wrong and right work attitudes
• Discover strategies for managing your own attitude and that of
others
• Name and understand the factors that determine or influence our
attitudes
• Recognize other factors that help in creating a productive workplace

3. OUTLINE
1. Attitude defined
2. How are attitudes determined and influenced?
3. Can attitudes be changed?
4. Creating a productive work place

4. ATTITUDE DEFINED Session 1

5. ATTITUDE DEFINED
Attitude is
 A state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter
 A mental position with regard to a fact or situation
 A feeling or emotion toward a fact or situation
 the way we react or respond to people, objects and
institutions on issues, facts or state.
 an outward expression of our state of mind.
Attitude is a mirror of the mind.

6. ATTITUDE DEFINED
Attitudes start from the mind but do not remain
there. They manifest as behaviour.
We see people’s attitudes in their
 Actions and inactions
 Work ethics
 Body language
 Speech
 Tone of voice etc.
Attitudes start
from the mind!

7. ATTITUDE DEFINED
Attitude
 Is a virus that can be contagious.
 Has identifiable warning signs or symptoms
 Has a cure – it can be changed
Attitude is everything. It impacts everything we do in life:
 Our personal lives
 Our mindset and approach to life
 Work
 Success or failure
 Social interactions
 The kinds of people we interact with and how we interact

8. ATTITUDE CAN BE DEFINED AS ONE WORD…LIFE
•It makes an incredible difference in your LIFE.
• It can be a powerful tool for positive action.
• It can be a poison that cripples you.
• It dictates whether you’re living life or life’s living you.

9. THOUGHTS THAT BREED WRONG ATTITUDES
9
I’m just fed up with
this job! I hate it
Why does Brenda spend so much
time with Ama these days? I’m sure
they’re talking about meMy boss is so difficult and
demanding, he’s a pain to work
with.
Why was I not copied in the
email? There’s something fishy
going on
Adjoa is just lazy. She can’t finish
her reports after the deadline
was even extended
Its not my fault the new client
left! There are so many
competitors these days

10. THOUGHTS THAT BREED RIGHT ATTITUDES
10
This job is tough but I like meeting
new clients everyday
My boss has high standards
and expectations. I need to put
in a little more effort.
Brenda and Ama seem to
like each other a lot, nice
friendship there
Adjoa must be facing some
problems. She wasn’t able to
finish her reports even though the
deadline was extended
I’m sure she forgot to copy
me in the email
I must apologize to the rest
of the team for losing our
new client. I did not do
proper follow up.

11. SPOTTING WRONG WORK ATTITUDES
Not a team player
Does the minimum amount of
work or
 Pretends to work
Offers no solutions to issues
Usually late to work
Disrespectful to colleagues
Insubordinate
Usually unhappy and takes it
out on others
Always negative and
pessimistic
 Has something bad to say about
anything or anybody
Usually in a bad
mood/Unpleasant
Gossip
Clock Watcher
 Leaves work even before official
closing hours

12. SPOTTING WRONG WORK ATTITUDES
Prima donna
 Thinks very highly of herself
everyone else is below her level
Defensive & argumentative
 Would never accept that s/he is at
fault
Work to Rule
 Does not put in extra effort in the
work or go the extra mile
Abrasive
 Normally uses very harsh language
or tone with colleagues
Rude
 Uses wrong language
Confrontational
 Very cantankerous
Disruptive
 Cannot control his/her temper

13. CONSEQUENCES OF WRONG WORK ATTITUDES
Erosion of team spirit
Morale suffers
Conflicts
Poor quality service
Reputation of the
organization suffers

14. CONSEQUENCES OF WRONG WORK ATTITUDES
Frustration on
the part of
others because
they have to
put up with the
bad attitude
Communication
suffers
The virus
spreads and
productivity
suffers

15. BENEFITS OF RIGHT WORK ATTITUDES
FostersTeamwork
SolvesProblems
Makes For Congenial
Atmosphere
IncreasesProductivity
BreedsLoyalty

16. THE GOOD NEWS
Just like most viruses, attitudes are contagious, they can
easily be passed around and others will catch it too.
So a good attitude can offset a bad one in a work
situation if other colleagues catch the good attitude virus
But before we delve into how to
change attitudes, let’s first
considerhow attitudes are formed

17. HOW ARE ATTITUDES
DETERMINED AND INFLUENCED
Session 2

18. DETERMINE & INFLUENCE EXPLAINED
Let’s begin by explaining our two key words
Determine means
 To cause (something) to occur in a particular way or to have a
particularnature.
 It connotes the root cause of something
So first of all, we want to understand why a person’s
attitude is of a certain nature ie. the root cause or the
reason why a person is the way s/he is

19. DETERMINE & INFLUENCE EXPLAINED
Influence means
 The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or
behaviour of someone or something.
 In other words, to influence character means to shape it, or have an
effect on it.
 If something is an influencing factor, it is not the root cause but only
has an effect.
Factors which influence attitude are therefore not the root
cause of a person’s attitude but may affect it.
Understanding these 2 terms will help in having clarity on
the issues discussed in this session.

20. HOW ARE ATTITUDES DETERMINED?
At the very onset, attitudes are invisible, not only to
onlookers but sometimes to the person portraying the
attitude as well.
Attitudes can therefore be likened to the iceberg
because only 10% of the iceberg can be seen.
 90% of the iceberg remains below sea level.
20

21. HOW ARE ATTITUDES DETERMINED?
21
Attitude
Above sea level
Below sea level

22. FACTORS THAT DETERMINE OUR ATTITUDE
Attitude
Education
Experiences
Environment

23. ENVIRONMENT
23
• Parental/SiblingsInfluences
Home
• Peer Pressure
School
• Supportive Or Critical Bosses/Colleagues
Work
• Television, Newspapers, Magazines, Movies
Media
• Traditions& Beliefs
Cultural Background
• Norms & Values
Social Environment
ReligiousBackground

24. EXPERIENCES & EDUCATION
Experiences
 Our behaviour changes according to our
experiences with various people
Education
 Education broadens our horizon and influences our
thinking, actions, behaviours and attitude.
24

25. Based on these factors, we can either develop a positive attitude or a
negative attitude.
People with a positive
attitude are usually
 Optimistic
 Confident
 Caring
 Assertive
 Patient
 Humble
People with a negative
attitude are normally
 Unhappy
 Pessimistic
 Unpleasant
 Defensive
 Argumentative
 Confrontational
 Disruptive

26. POSITIVE & NEGATIVE ATTITUDES
Benefits of a positive attitude
IncreasesConfidence
Reducesstress
Careersuccess
High productivity
Improves interpersonal relations
Is energizing
Effects of a negative attitude
Self doubt
Poorself esteem
Increasesstress
Bitterness
Resentment
PoorHealth

27. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE OUR ATTITUDES
We have just discussed factors that determine or cause
people to have either a positive or negative attitude.
 These are the root causes of whether we develop a positive or
negative attitude generally
We will now discuss factors that influence, affect or shape
our attitudes.
 Sometimesa person may generally have a positive attitude but on a
particularday or in a specific instance their attitude may be shaped,
influenced or affected by an event, situation, a person etc.
 Sometimesstress or a difficult situation can influence our attitude for
a short while and equally cause havoc in our workplaces.

28. Factors that influence
attitude

29. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ATTITUDE
A combination of these situations can turn someone
with a positive attitude into an unpleasant work
colleague on a particular day.
 How should we handle such events that cause our
attitudes to change?
 How do we relate with others when we realize that we
are under unusual stress on a particular day which may
make us uncooperative and unpleasant to our at work
mates?

30. MANAGING YOUR ATTITUDE
Make colleagues
aware that you’re
having a bad day
and apologize in
advance for any
wrong attitude?
Identify your stress
relievers and use
them… music? ice
cream? a good
conversation?
Explain your
circumstances to your
colleagues and ask
for their help with
work for that day.
Take the day off?
If possible
In other
words,
KNOW
YOURSELF!

31. CAN ATTITUDES BE CHANGED? Session 3

32. CHANGING ATTITUDES
Attitude change takes time, effort, and determination, but it can be
done.
 It is important not to expect to change a person’s attitudes overnight.
Remember that attitudes are formed over a lifetime through an
individual’s socialization process which includes his or her
formation of values and beliefs during childhood years, and
influenced by family, religion, culture and socioeconomic factors.
This socialization process affects a person’s attitude toward work
as well as their behavior.

33. CHANGING ATTITUDES
Before you seek to change a colleague’s attitude
however, you need to change your own

34. WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. First and foremost-be honest with yourself
2. Recognize warning signs
 negative thoughts, blaming behavior, pessimism
3. Use positive affirmations and think positive thoughts
 About your work colleagues, customers, your job, friends etc.
4. Visualize your day before it begins
 Determine that you will not give anything or anyone the power to
change your positive attitude for that day
5. Clearly determine the goals you want to achieve for the day
6. Put your head in the game and focus.

35. TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR OWN ATTITUDE
Don’t associate with people who have hostile attitudes, you might
get infected
 Remember attitude is contagious whether good or bad
Practice optimism and positive self-talk
Dwell on positives
Give others the benefit of the doubt
Become a problem-solver
Choose your battles carefully
Use self-control

36. TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS
WORK
Manage stress
Empathize with colleagues
 That way you will not be unnecessarily critical of them
Look for creative ways to make the tasks you do at work
more interesting.
 Try sharing or exchanging tasks with a colleague - monotonous vrs.
challenging.
 Ask for more responsibilities.
Avoid people who discourage you

37. HOW CAN MANAGEMENT CHANGE ATTITUDES?
Employees perception about how the organization is
managed also plays a role in determining their attitude to
work.
 For example, if employeesbelieve that management is not
concerned about their welfare, does not treat them fairly etc. they
will adopt a nonchalant attitude to work.
Some of the possible ways management changes poor
work attitudes is by:
 Providing information
 People are more likely to cooperate when they understand what is going on. So
instead of simply giving instructions or orders from management, management
should dialogue with employees and get them involved

38. HOW CAN MANAGEMENT CHANGE ATTITUDES?
Use of Fear
 Managementuses punitive measures to get people to do the right
thing. This method however, needs to be backed by a monitoring
system where employeescan be regularly monitored to ensure
that they are doing the right thing.
Acknowledge concerns
 Don’t gloss over complaints. If appropriate, acknowledge
employees’ point of view and provide clarification on
misunderstandings.

39. HOW CAN MANAGEMENT CHANGE ATTITUDES?
Encourage humor
 Humor can diffuse tension and ease stress. But humor should be
positive and lighthearted, and should never occur at the expense
of others.
Suggest privacy, if appropriate
 If a major setback or crisis occurs at work for an employee,
encourage the person to take a few minutes to be alone. That way,
the individual can work through strong emotions and avoid scenes
or actions that he or she may later regret.
Praise, praise, praise
 When successes occur, share them with others and praise those who
made them happen. Recognizing achievementsmakes everyone
feel good.

40. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
Accept and acknowledge personality differences
 When you spend 8 hours a day with people, it is likely that they’re
eventually going to do something to offend you.
 Small issues will be magnified
 Personality differenceslead to varying work styles, which can easily
turn into conflict.

41. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
Kill them with kindness
 If someone has been rude to you, or said something that might have
offended you, try being extra pleasant when chatting rather than
being offended and refusing to speak to the person. Your kindness
may help them realize and be a little ashamed of their own bad
behavior.
 Or find at least one thing about that colleague you like and focus on
that rather than the traits that annoy you. Find ways to center your
conversation on topics that interest you both ie. football, TV
programmesetc. and perhaps what you disliked about that person
will be lessened.

42. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
Try avoidance tactics
 Finding ways to simply avoid the negative colleague is a
helpful solution that can possibly solve the problem
without an actual confrontation.
 While this does not necessarily solve underlying issues or
conflicts, it may not matter much if the ‘problem’ is out of
sight and out of mind.

43. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
Address the Issue
 While avoidance tactics can occasionally work they’re not always
successful since they don’t address the underlyingissue.
 If your challenge with a colleague is personal in nature rather than
related to the work itself, you may need to approach them directly
with whatever your issue is. Eg. If they’re cracking inappropriate
jokes, tell them that it makes you uncomfortable
 By not addressing these personal conflicts when they arise, you
simply let them fester inside, and then you end up disliking the
person far more than you may have if you had brought it up
straightaway.

44. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
If the challenge with the colleague is because of something
that is related to the work rather than personal, it can be
a different situation which may require going to your
supervisor first.
In some instances, though, you still might be able to handle
it on a personal level.
 If you’re leading a work team and someone isn’t keeping up with the
work, you can absolutely handle that on your own.
 If your colleague routinely takes personal phone calls when the boss
leavesthe office, you can mention that you’ve noticed, and let them
know that unless they stop, you’ll be bringing it up to the supervisor.

45. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
Speak to your bosses
There are certainly situations that warrant approaching
your boss but it should be the last resort.
Before you go to your boss, talk to other colleagues you’re
friendly with as to their feelings about the offending
colleague.
 After you tell your boss about the issue, he or she may ask around to
see if others have noticed the problem as well. Knowing that your
coworkerswill corroborate your story will give you confidence and
add some weight to your case.
 If you’re the only one who’s noticed the problem, you might consider
the possibility that you’ve managed to make a mountain out of a
molehill, and that bringing it up with a supervisorwill backfire on
you.

46. HANDLING A COLLEAGUE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE
Once you decide to approach a superior about
the issue, make sure that you’re talking about it in
terms of how it is affecting the business and your
performance.
Don’t tell a story of emotional wounds.
 Make an argument that the person is costing the
organization money.

47. YOUR ATTITUDE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHOICES YOU
MAKE IN LIFE…
“Everything can be taken from a person but
one thing: the last of human freedoms – to
choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
Victor E. Frankl

48. CREATING A PRODUCTIVE
WORK PLACE
Session 4

49. CREATING A PRODUCTIVE WORKPLACE
Productivity at the workplace is crucial for any
organization since it affects the bottom line.
 The more productive employees are the more profitable the
organization will be, all things being equal.
Attitude, as discussed, plays a key role in enhancing or
weakening productivity in the work place. Aside attitude,
a number of factors also contribute to ensuring employee
productivity.
 Let’s discuss a few

50. TRUST
High trust organizations:
 Experience ½ the average turnover of industry peers
 Have higher productivity and profitability
 Have higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty
 Constructive strategic alliances
Productive relationships are based on trust
 often unrecognized and taken for granted
It’s a resource that
 increases with use
 enables coordination without coercion
 enables commitments to be undertaken in situations of high
risk

51. TRUST
Reasons for low trust in organizations:
 Lack of inclusion
 Perceptions of vulnerability
 No positive attachment to a “boss”
 Previous experiences – yours or other peoples

52. CLEAR GOALS AND FEEDBACK
Employees are more motivated if they know what
they are expected to achieve.
 They need to know what they should be doing as well as
their assigned roles.
 Without clear or explicit expectations, people tend to
find excuses when they fail to achieve targets.
 There must be clarity at the onset: define what is expected of
everyone, and how people are expected to perform their assigned
tasks and responsibilities
 Short-term goals, in particular, are effective in encouraging
employeesto properly manage their speed in doing tasks to meet
targets.

53. CLEAR GOALS AND FEEDBACK
It is also important to provide feedback or show
that employees are being supervised.
 Accomplishments should be acknowledged, while errors
or failures in meeting targets should be promptly
addressed.

54. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Providing opportunities for developing skills or advancing
professionally helps employees to learn new skills and
improve their productivity on the job.
It is not enough that they have mastered the skills needed
to efficiently accomplish their current assignments. People
need to realize that there are other things they can do, so
that they can progress to higher positions.
 If employeesare not encouraged to develop professionally, that
may become motivation for them to seek a new company.

55. EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION
Effective communication reduces errors and builds
confidence. Likewise, a lack of effective communication will
frustrate employees and make them feel less important.
Communication is a crucial aspect of business operations.
 Without an effective system of communication in place, it will be difficult to
achieve goals and even function properly.
Effective and efficient communication means that
employees should know the hierarchy and expertise within
the company. They should know who to reach out to
regarding their concerns.

56. MOTIVATION
The need for
• employee motivation,
•the proactive involvement of managers, and
• the use of technologies and systems that greatly help
employees in doing their work more efficiently.

57. RESOURCES
1. De Jager, P. (2005). The Consequence of Attitude.
2. ‘Attitude is Everything, Choose a Positive Sales Attitude’ - Cruise Planners
Annual Sales Conference (May 17,2007)
3. www.crmlearning.com; Attitude Virus: Curing Negativity in the Workplace,
1/5/07.
4. Triandis, H. (1971). Attitude and Attitude Change. New York: Wiley
5. Dr Tabassum Alvi . Attitude