COACHING ATTITUDE DEVELOPMENT 

Attitude is a choice and no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to control another person’s attitude. You can, however, impact another individual’s attitude. Often we only address problematic attitudes or wait tointerject when an attitude goes from bad to worse, but rarely do we address a positive attitude. Invest in the good things, and reward positive attitudes.

However, the reality is that you will have to confront someone with a less than stellar attitude. When this is your reality use the tips below to coach to attitude development.  

• Remember, our attitude is the outcome of a choice we made. This doesn’t mean we wake up in the morning and decide, “I’m going to be difficult today” or “I think I’d like to try out uncooperative witch.” Often times there is a string of related or possibly unrelated events that got us to the attitude we are currently sporting. Use questions to discover the sources of the attitude. Discovering the root issues will help both you and your employee take the next steps in moving forward.   
• Attitude isn’t always as straightforward as we’d like. Unfortunately we all do not constantly monitor our attitudes. At some point or another, we have all unconsciously let an undesirable attitude transfer from one circumstance to an entirely unrelated situation. Unfortunately this means others suffer at the hands of an attitude they didn’t create. Sometimes our attitude just needs to be brought to our attention. Build awareness by challenging an employee to view their attitude from the outside looking in.   
• Misery loves company and attitude loves emotion. Underlying emotions usually fuel poor attitudes. This is why is it important that you keep your emotions out of the equations when handling any attitude issues. An employee may not even hear you’re your message if your emotion is coming through stronger. Remain neutral and don’t allow your emotion to fuel an attitude fire.