People Behave Based on Their ThoughtsIf you have an employee who is negative and pessimistic ...
grumbling and complaining all the time ... you can predict exactly
how he views life. Negatively. If an employee is generally happy
and sees problems as challenges, you can pretty well count on that
person to have a positive outlook on life.
As a coach, you need to understand the “philosophies” of the
people who work for you.
Some of those philosophies, conscious and unconscious,
include the following:- Work is what I do to fund my weekends.
- If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
- This job is a rung on my ladder to success.
- No one can do everything, but everyone can
do something. - Humor: Don’t leave home without it.
- Whatever’s wrong, I didn’t do it.
- Know your limits, then break through them.
- If you learn from losing, you’re a winner.
Recognize anyone you know? In some cases, you may need to
help team members rewrite those philosophies. How? If a very
negative or uncommunicative person works for you, your natural
reaction is to avoid that person. But as a coach, you’ll never
understand what makes that employee tick unless you spend time
with him. You have to get close enough to understand the person’s
attitude or action.
For instance, negative people sometimes develop outward
attitudes to mask inner feelings of inferiority. Make sure they
believe you feel they are capable, valuable team members.
Coach:
You know, Jeff, I’ve been thinking about what you said
about that last project being a waste of time, and I think
you may have had a point.
1 Coaching, Mentoring and Managing
Some minds are
like concrete — all
mixed up and
permanently set!