A number of years back, I used to manage the employee orientation process in a healthcare organization. As part of the day and a half of orientation, we watched a video called FISH! which was developed by ChartHouse Learning. It was a short video describing the four key principles used by the fish-selling team at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
One of the drawbacks of running a repetitive process like Employee Orientation is that you see the videos over and over again. So I saw the FISH video until my eyes just about fell out of my head and I could quote the entire thing without thinking. But I kept using the video because I liked one of the core messages. The message was "Choose your Attitude." (For more information on FISH you can click here.)
This notion that you can select your attitude each day isn't unique. It's taught by self-help gurus like Tony Robbins, and it is a regular theme in productivity training. But is it true? And if it is true? How can we as managers get the most out of it?
I believe it is possible to "Select your Attitude" because I often do so myself. There are mornings I wake up feeling annoyed or bored, and when I arrive in my office I quickly realize that my attitude is not going to get me anywhere pleasant. Here are some of the strategies I've used to turn my own attitude around:
1. Listening to music that I like.
2. Reading inspirational quotes or short sections of inspirational books.
3. Giving myself permission to spend ten minutes writing all of my gripes down. Usually after a few minutes of this I realize how petty they are and I find myself laughing.
4. Taking a short walk.
5. Giving myself "The Talk". It usually goes something like this.
"OK Cheri, you have two choices today. You can be crabby and you'll end up wasting the whole day and feeling miserable. Or you can get over yourself, buck up, and be productive. But if you're not going to choose the second option, you may as well close down shop and go get some menial job working for someone else. Because business owners don't get the luxury of sulking like brats. Now get back to work."
6. Writing out a to-do list and tackling one item on it. Usually by the time I get into my work my attitude has shifted to something more pleasant.
I think one of the things that makes changing your attitude a challenge is that we each have our own way of managing our emotions and mood. The tricks that work on me may not work on you. But I developed each of these "tricks" only after I realized that it was true that I could choose my own attitude each day.
As leaders, how can we help our employees realize that they are capable of selecting their own attitude each day?
- We can ask those who have already figured it out to give examples of how they've consciously altered their moods.
- We can model this behavior for others. For example: several years ago when I was managing an HR team I had this silly headband with happy faces on it that I would put on every time I felt cranky. It was my signal to lighten up. Over time my employees asked me what this was for, and they would joke about how I "had the headband on" and they helped me laugh at myself.
- We can show the FISH video.
- We can introduce the concept of selecting your own attitude at a meeting or discussion.
If you have any comments or suggestions related to today's post, please leave a comment or send me an email.
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