Foster an Environment for Positive Attitudes

As we bite into a slice of pizza covered with cheese and pepperoni we are reminded of the old adage “You are what you eat.” When it comes to an employee’s attitude, the adage that should come to mind is “You are what you think.”

It is a well documented fact that employees that possess a positive attitude or outlook are more productive, work well with others or individually and experience less incidents of absenteeism. These employees possess the ability to keep their emotions in check when collecting on an account where the customer is less than cooperative. They are able to remain focused on the task of collecting and not allow negative comments coming from the other end of the line to become personal attacks.

This is not to say that an employee with a positive attitude never experiences a negative thought.

It is how they choose to cope with these negative thoughts that make all the difference.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the employee who reacts negatively to everything and everyone in their lives. Any type of change is met with push back and these folks tend to be very vocal about it. The danger here is that these employees have the ability to whether consciously or unconsciously bring down those around them. When dealing with a difficult customer, they take every comment as a personal attack and often lose their focus. The calm professionalism is out the window as they raise their voices in an attempt to regain control of the conversation. These incidents often lead to customer complaints and require intervention of a Supervisor for damage control. Collecting requires self-esteem, a strong focus and the gift of persuasion. A negative attitude has no place here.

By following the four steps listed below, we can create a workplace that fosters an environment for positive thinking.

Communicate

Open communication in any relationship is important. It allows the parties involved to trust one another. Your employees should always feel well informed (in the loop) when it comes to changes that affect them directly. Employees should know that communication is a two way street, they should feel comfortable enough to ask questions, voice their opinions and know that their concerns will be addressed.

Acknowledge

Acknowledge their efforts, if it is warranted. When an important assignment is done well, provide the employee with positive feedback and if the opposite is true, this feedback is just as important. Employees require all forms of feedback in order to grow and make themselves better. If a mistake is unacknowledged, it can become a habit and once that happens, changing that habit becomes more of a struggle than correcting the mistake in the first place.

Reward

Reward employees that exceed your expectations. A reward can mean something different to each employee. We should attempt to get to know our staff as individuals to determine what
motivates them. Some may be motivated by a monetary reward, while others need your approval and some just live for a challenge.

Engage and Develop

Train and develop your staff. Be willing to invest time and resources to ensure that changes to existing procedures and new procedures are fully understood and implemented. Ensure that any training is considered to be value added. Poll your staff; did they feel the training was beneficial and helpful to them in their work? Test their knowledge of certain subjects to determine what types of training or refresher classes are needed.

If we are not willing to invest the time and resources who really suffers?

The customer suffers because we are not providing the level of service and professionalism that they deserve. The employee suffers as they struggle and stumble to follow a procedure that was never clearly communicated or understood. In most cases this leads to the employee becoming unhappy and frustrated with themselves and the company.

In closing I would like to say that an employee’s personality and their attitude are parts of who they are. Trying to change someone’s negative attitude towards a situation is much easier to accomplish than changing their attitude about life in general. We have all met and worked with those individuals who are always having a bad day. We can provide encouragement and lead by example but, in the end a person’s state of mind is controlled by no one but themselves. They must choose to change the way they think and react to certain situations and to the people around them.

Veronica Huffman is the Training and Quality Assurance Lead for Security National Automotive Company. Veronica has over 15 years experience as a training coordinator for the Property and Casualty Insurance Industry. She is enjoying her newly accepted role: training collection professionals for Security National.