Behaviours and attitudes

What are behaviours and attitudes?

Behaviour- is how someone acts. It is what someone does to make something, to make something change or to keep things the same. Behaviour is a response to things that are happening:

• internally - thoughts and feelings

• externally - the environment, including other people.

Attitude - describes an individuals state of mind of the way they think about a situation, person or thing. In the workplace people can have either a positive or negative attitude towards a specific work tasks, services or management.

Why are Behaviours and attitudes in the workplace?

A business owner looks at an employee's behaviour to determine their ultimate productivity and contributions to the business. In many cases, a person's behaviour is affected by their attitude.

We are defined by the way we behave and the attitude we have towards others. We also judge how others behave towards us.

A positive attitude - gets the work done and motivates others to do the same, without dwelling on the challenges that inevitably come up in any job. The positive employee performs well and understands the importance of attendance and punctuality and creating a positive culture.

A negative attitude - the employee is consistently late, carelessly performing tasks, being rude and disrespectful, spreading or creating rumours, and threatening the workplace culture and environment. These attitudes and behaviours can impact your job security and future progress.

Check out the Batari Box Model

Attitude affects behaviour

Our attitude about anything comes out in our external behavioural displays. This may appear in the signals we send to other people, for example in smiles, voice tone and use of particular words. It also appears in how we act, and in particular regarding other people.

The reverse is also true, of course, and attitude of others also affects their behaviour.

Behaviour affects others' attitudes

When I do something or send physical signals to you, then it has an effect on your attitude. If I act in an aggressive way towards you, you will interpret this in a certain way. Your attitude is subsequently affected by this, either because you are persuaded by my arguments or because you react to what you may perceive as unreasonable behaviour by me.

And again, the reverse is true. Your behaviour affects my attitudes as I interpret, rightly or wrongly, what you do or signal.

Thus a circle is created. I act, which affects your attitude, which affects your behaviour, which affects my attitude, which affects my actions.

So what?

This is one of the circular behavioural patterns whereby we get stuck in subconscious loops. Recognizing it is the first step to addressing it.

To change the behaviour of others, first watch your own attitude and how it affects your behaviour. Then notice how your behaviour affects other people. You can break the unconscious loop by spotting how the behaviour of others makes you feel and refusing to let it affect your attitude without first censoring this process. Remember that your attitude is a choice.

Application tips:

• First thing in the morning rather than reach for your phone and social media, use a journal or app to feed your mind with positive affirmations.

• If you hear that negative tape playing in your mind, take a breath, take 5 and keep calm. Don't believe the lies in your head, you are amazing and all things are possible, just believe.

• Listen to positive music, videos and podcasts to keep your mood balance.

Remember :

"It's easy to make it through the good time: it's how we handle the bad times that can separate us form the crowd and move us closer to our goals"

Phillip Crone

So how do we create positive behaviours and attitudes?

There are many things that life throws at us, which has an impact on our attitudes and behaviours, developing our awareness and requesting support from others is the first step to our development.

Here are tips to support you:

• Ensure good attendance and punctuality to work and college, this shows you are committed. In the event of being absent ensure that you report your absence through your companies process and the college absence reporting system. Communicate any essential appointments well in advance.

• Develop a can do attitude, even when tasks allocated are boring and not so challenging, being keen can only work in your favour, remember these are positive steps to get noticed.

• Show gratitude - see the positive qualities in others helps to bring our the positive qualities in yourself.

• Use positive communication and messaging, remember words are powerful they can either build up or bring people down. Avoid gossip and inappropriate language and communication, remember judging others pen the door for that behaviour in return.

• Appreciate the little wins and be consistent in all that you do, as these have impact over time.

• Smile - non verbal communication is key, this is how people will initially judge you, a smile goes a long way.

• Develop relationships, although workplace environments have a diverse range of people, use this as a positive learning experience, ask questions and build a rapport, intergenerational relationships can also support your development, as generally people of differing ages would have extensive experience and wisdom to share.

• Know your mission - it is important that you understand your direction in life and have dreams set into goals.

Remember nobody is perfect and we will slip up at times and get it wrong, however every day is a new day, and we can continue to change our attitudes and behaviours. No matter our age we are all a work in progress.

Rate your progress of behaviours and attitudes by completing the google form below. Add the areas you and your Progress Coach/Trainer have identified to develop on to your personal Development plan.