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Adopting Positive and Productive Attitudes 67

Phase 3

In your fi nal meeting in the series, decide as a group how you can
reinforce the agreed-on attitudes and the behaviors that refl ect

them. More specifically, how should you respond when a co-worker’s
behavior violates an attitude you agreed to adopt? One way is to be
forthright and remind the offender that he or she agreed to abide
by your departmental creed. However the reminder is expressed, it
should be a gentle nudge and not a hit over the head with a brick.

Discovery Lesson

To discover for yourself the relationship between what you tell yourself
and what you do, complete this two-part exercise.

1. Come up with a negative statement about someone you know, using
the person’s name. Write this statement on a sheet of paper or in your
manager’s journal, and then read it aloud. Next, write down all the
possible attitudes you could harbor toward this person that were trig-
gered by the negative statement. Finally, write down all the actions
that could result from your attitudes.
Example: John is insensitive toward his fellow employees. He
seems not to care when he puts someone on the spot publicly. When
he is told what he does and the effect it has on people, he says, “They
are overly sensitive.”
Attitudes I harbor toward John: No matter what I’d say or do, John
would not pay attention to me. I really don’t like John because he’s
disrupting my department. I can’t trust John with projects that require
him to work with others.
Actions that could result from my negative attitudes toward John: I
don’t make a concerted effort to help John realize how he’s affecting

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