Are your employees “lazy?”  Do they seem to just want a paycheck without doing much if any work?  If this is the case, you probably think they have a bad attitude and you’d like to just give them the boot.  That’s a natural reaction to frustration, but before you go there, answer the following questions honestly:

• Am I consistently modeling the positive behavior I want to see in others?
• Do I wait for an employee to make a mistake and then jump in to tell them what they did wrong?
• When they bring an issue or need to me, is my response that they should be happy to have a job?
• Do my employees have any idea why the work they do is important to the business?

 If you come to work grumpy and complaining about the poor state of the world, you can expect others to mirror that behavior.  If you constantly criticize and rarely praise, you’ll get resistance rather than cooperation.  If you view employees as a cost rather than a investment, they will not see any reason to do any more than the minimum necessary because they know they are not valued.   And remember, without the work your employees do, you would not be in business very long.

So before trying to get anyone else to improve their attitude, try improving your own.  You might be surprised by the results.

Sharon Hamersley is Principal of Keys to Performance, Your Resource for Workplace Productivity. Sharon helps businesses create profitable, productive, and positive workplaces.  For more information, visit her web site http://k2performance.net or call her at 614-395-9440.