ATTITUDE

ATTITUDE is one of my favourite things to talk about, whether it’s in relation to individual or collaborative performance and achievement. In fact, I think it’s so important that I refer to it all in capitals – it deserves that level of emphasis. Let me explain to you how I’ve experienced and observed its importance.

Thinking back over all the projects I’ve worked with teams on, regardless of the role I’ve had, one of the key things that’s differentiated the most successful teams from the less successful teams is the ATTITUDE of the team members. Whether the projects have involved spending only a couple of hundred dollars, or millions of dollars of the Project Sponsor’s money, the teams that have consistently outperformed expectations are the ones where members have the right ATTITUDE.

Looking around at all the different definitions available for this one word, I would paraphrase it to be something like:

“A way of thinking, a belief, feeling or an opinion about something, and the behaviours that go with it…”

As a facilitator or trainer, I can help you to do things that equip you with certain knowledge; and give you practical opportunities to demonstrate those in action solving problems that have various degrees of wickedness. practical skills. I can train you in how to gather and synthesise information, problem solve, make and implement decisions, and compare actual against planned results. These are a combination of observable and inferred processes – things that can be repeated with more confidence the more they happen. I can even require you to do some things certain ways – providing there’s a good reason for it.

There’s one thing, however, that I can’t train you to do – and that’s to have the right ATTITUDE. That’s something that comes from deep within you; and is based on all the life and professional experiences you bring to the table with you when you become part of a team. How you’ve learned to react is something that’s unique to you – all I can do is share with you examples from my own life and professional experiences, together with what I’ve observed happening for others (with the caveat that I’m interpreting what I’ve observed rather than making statements I can’t definitively prove are exact interpretations).

• I can tell you why it makes good sense to listen to people before you judge what they have to say – but you have to have the ATTITUDE that says you are willing to do it. You have to be willing to explore ideas and opinions that are different to your own.
• I can tell you why it makes sense to value people who are different to you, and to learn from those differences – but you have to have the ATTITUDE that you aren’t superior to anybody; just different from them.
• I can tell you that I believe you are more capable than you know at the start of your team life and project life (because I have a lot of experience at helping people prove that to themselves) – but you have to have the ATTITUDE you’re willing to have the experiences to find out just how capable that is. It takes a lot more effort to persuade me to believe less in you than I did at the start than it does to prove me right about how awesome and capable you really are…
• I can tell you why it’s good to set and work towards stretch goals (and how you can really have some fun doing that) – but you have to have the ATTITUDE that says you’ll give it a go, and not give up the first time the going gets tough.
• I can tell you why it’s important to care about yourself (as my very good friend Vicki-Maree says, you can’t pour from an empty teapot) before you can start caring about others – but you have to have the ATTITUDE that says caring for you is good selfishness rather than bad selfishness (and that you will make it an unshakeable commitment to do more than just think or talk about it).
• I can tell you why helping out a team member when you can see they are struggling with something is a good thing to do (for both of you) – but you have to have the ATTITUDE that it’s how things are going to happen in your team, rather than needing somebody else to direct you to do it.

What I hope you can see from these examples – especially if you’re already comparing them against some of your own experiences – is how much awesomeness is possible with the right ATTITUDE in a team. Members with strong ATTITUDE will bring others with them on a journey towards awesomeness. Of course, the opposite can also be true – a wrong ATTITUDE can take members on a journey away from awesomeness.

I’m interested in learning about your thinking on this topic, because it’s through collaborative conversations that we can create even more valuable learning and development experiences. Let me know what you think.

In my next blog on Thursday 29 December, I will share my thinking about project team leadership, why it’s necessary to think carefully about who’s in that role, and how it connects with some of the ideas on the role of ATTITUDE developed here.

Rob