How to Improve a Person's Behavior & Attitude at Work

Negative behavior and attitudes in the workplace present a challenging situation.

When work problems arise, often a person’s internal attitude spills over and affects the external behavior. Because negative behavior often follows negative attitude, you can reconcile and work toward a resolution by focusing on the underlying attitude first. Improve a person’s behavior and attitude at work by encouraging the employee to talk about issues. By listening, you can understand the situation and help to resolve it.

Instructions

1. Highlight contention when it occurs to delve into the issues. Instead of brushing aside issues and problems, take a few moments to discuss the feelings underneath the frustration or anger to solve problems.

2. Stay calm and encourage the frustrated or angry employee to express his feelings without fear of retaliation. By remaining cool, you model the behavior you wish to see in your employees. Avoid interrupting while the employee expresses his feelings.

3. Acknowledge feelings and accept them. Instead of communicating a message of disapproval, say something such as, “You’re right, Amos. I can see why you feel so frustrated.” Acknowledgment and acceptance make feelings seem less extreme and frustrating.

4. Paraphrase the description of the situation to ensure you understand what the employee told you. Ask questions and listen to the answers to clarify any points you do not understand.

5. Work on the issues connected with the feelings. For example, if a clerical employee feels frustrated and angry because other employees regularly drop last-minute projects on him with little notice, work to solve the problem. The problem, in this example, is a lack of organization and clearly defined structure for allocating work in the office. Restructure and redesign the way employees distribute work, and you can alleviate attitudes that develop from frustration and anger. This then alleviates behavior that results from frustrated and angry attitudes.

6. Encourage employees to communicate directly and respectfully with each other when they experience negative emotions. Because negative emotions create a negative attitude, which leads to negative behavior, the solution is regular, honest and respectful communication.

7. Create a formal issue-resolution plan whereby employees can seek assistance from supervisors if they need help resolving issues. Train supervisors to listen to issues, ask questions to ensure they understand and then work to resolve the issues in a fair and equitable manner.

References

• Mediate.com; How To Handle Difficult Behavior In The Workplace; Tony Belak; February 2004
• "The Psychology of Attitudes and Attitude Change"; Joseph P. Forgas, et al.; 2010 (p. 49)