Authored by Karen Pelot, Edited by Becca Whipple
Attitude is Everything
Have you ever worked with a leader who makes difficult things feel easy? What about a leader who made everything feel more difficult? Juxtapose those two. If you could choose, which would you spend time working with?
Years ago, I was working with a marketing company to build two websites in an overlapping time. If you’ve survived a website build, you know it can be a lengthy process and feel overwhelming, just like with any important project.
But not with Sarah…
Sarah was the marketing company’s co-owner, and I was lucky to have her as my primary POC. Why? Because she made everything feel easy.
When we hit snags – and of course we did – Sarah never flinched. Her demeanor stayed calm, upbeat, and encouraging. I don’t know what was happening on the inside, but on the outside she was clear and focused.
Sarah instilled an unwavering feeling of “All is well, we’ve got this!”
No panic. No drama. Not even a trace of frustration. She just made everything look and feel easy.
From start to finish there was steady progress guided by Sarah’s confident expertise and supported by her unshakable can-do demeanor. With her in the project leadership role, the feeling of “THIS IS TOO MUCH!” transformed into “Cool, what’s next?”
Each time we met, I felt at ease, reassured, and competent. I knew the end result would be great, and I could 💯 do my part to help get us there.
Sarah was no “Pollyanna” – and that’s important. She didn’t ignore complexities; she addressed them – leaned into them – differently than most people.
How did Sarah make two overlapping, complex projects run so smoothly and feel so pleasant? She modelled a powerful, practiced belief that attitude is everything.
Sarah chose to show up with a contagious curiosity, full of “how we can” v. “this is hard” language.
”When leaders express positivity, employees perform better.”
— Harvard Business Review
The Unfortunate Cultural Norm
We live in a culture addicted to stress. We’ve been conditioned to complain and wear “this is hard” like a badge of honor.
Think about it: How often do you have a conversation where you don’t hear some kind of complaint, references to how stressful things are, or get details on someone else’s current frustrations?
Then what happens? You commiserate or share your own – maybe even trying to one up their hardships!
Stressed out + Stressed out = More stressed out
The last few weeks, I’ve been trying to transform my personal cultural norm by taking note of how often I do it myself – proclaim my stress and frustrations like it somehow validates my grit and ability.
Not too proud to say, it’s a lot more often than I realized. 🫣
My quest has taken me down the path of considering how I’m impacting the perspectives of the people I work with and researching the connection between a leader’s attitude and team results.
I found a recent study by Gallup showing a leader’s behavior and the attitude they model accounts for up to 70% of team engagement.
My awareness is on high alert! And I’m catching myself complaining and describing frustrations quicker and shifting my attitude before I proceed.
It’s a practice! But when a meeting ends with me, I want people to feel the way I felt after meeting with Sarah. What about you?
Attitude is Everything: 3 Practical Shifts
Want your team to feel calm, confident, and able as you lead them through challenges? Practice with these tips:
- Mind Your Words
Ditch the negative speak. Proclaiming your frustrations, hardships, and hurdles aren’t helpful, and they don’t paint you as the leader who can ‘get it done’ or support your team through challenges.
Be forward-looking, problem solving, collaborative, and focused on priorities. Choose to say nothing if what’s coming will be negative.
As a leader your words are taken seriously and amplify feelings, positively or negatively.
- Simplify Your Messages
Colin Powell said “great leaders are simplifiers.”
Be concise. Be clear. Be the simplifier.
- Channel Calm and Ability
The pressure you feel is real. But, wearing it for all to see increases the stress of everyone around you.
Stressed-out teams don’t perform as well as calm, enthusiastic, confident teams.
Prepare, think about the timing and order of your communication, and take 3 deep breaths to center and calm your mind to help you model confidence and ease when challenges arise.
Let your presence say: “We’ve got this.” When you stay calm, others can too.
The Wrap
As leaders, the emotional tone we set heavily influences how our teams respond, solve problems, and perform under pressure. Before your next team call or stakeholder meeting, pause and check what attitude you’re bringing with you.
Our work is often complex, and of course it gets frustrating too. But there’s just no good reason to put an attitude of negativity on anyone else – much less the people you need to be fully engaged and performing at their highest level.
I encourage you to do what I’ve been doing: notice the attitude you’re bringing into every conversation. Choose to be like Sarah – or whoever that example is for you.
Stay clear and focused and recognize when you need to be the one to hit the “easy” button.
In so many ways the old adage holds true: Attitude is everything.
Would your leadership team benefit from learning how to be the calm in the storm? Reach out for a free leadership coaching consultation today!
