Signs of a Top POSITIVE Employee Revealed Here

It’s almost become a cliché when people say you need to “Hire for attitude and train for skill.”

But what does that mean? Really? How can you tell if one of your employees, or team members, or potential coworkers has the right attitude?

From my 30+ years in the leadership and professional development business, I’ve learned that positive, highly engaged people at work invariably exhibit five characteristic behaviors. And I would strongly advise you to only hire or team up with people who show these behaviors.

? 1. Positive employees use more positive words than negative ones.

It’s easy to spot these kinds of employees. While the negative one says, “It’s never been done before,” the positive employee says, “I have the opportunity to be the first.”

The negative person says, “There’s not enough time,” while the positive one says, “I’ll reorder my priorities to make time.”

Of course, you may be tempted to say, “So what?”

Well, it’s a big deal because negative employees destroy morale. It's like the manager who asked his admin, "Why don't you ever answer the telephone?" She said, "Why should I? Nine times out of ten it's for you!"

And negative employees do just enough to get by. They don't have a lot of drive and they don't take a lot of initiative. You can hear it in their words when they say things like "I've just got seven more years, three months, and two days, and I'm out of here."

? 2. Positive employees know hard work is good for the soul.

Most people know that hard work is good for the company. It's good for the customer. It's even good for the country. But only your highly engaged employees know that it's also good for the soul.

Best-selling author Rabbi Harold Kushner says it so well. He says:

"Work hard, not solely because it will bring you rewards and promotions, but because it will give you a sense of being a competent person. Something corrosive happens to the souls of people who stop caring about the quality of their work...and begin to go through the motions."

That’s why your most positive employees are always looking for ways to make a bigger contribution. Deep down, they intuitively know it’s good for their soul.

By contrast, your more negative employees become experts on defining what is “just enough to get by.” They know how little they have to do before they are in danger of getting fired.

In fact, those negative employees remind me of one person I was interviewing while consulting for an organization. I asked him how long he’d been working for the company. He replied, “Ever since they threatened to fire me.”

? 3. Positive employees decide to enjoy their work … no matter what.

Certainly, no job is perfect. A particular job may not be fun, or even meaningful. After all, there's always something to complain about and there's always room for improvement.

In spite of that, positive engaged employees decide they're going to like their work. It's a decision they make, not a feeling they have … if and when everything goes well.

Winners are like Robert. When I learned that he had been passed over for a promotion, when I learned that a subordinate had gotten the job, I asked him how he was dealing with it. He replied, "Well for a while I was quite bitter. Then I realized that I was making myself miserable. I decided that I had always liked this job, and I was just going to keep doing it and make the most of it."

I know it sounds a little harsh, but I've often told my audiences, if you think your job stinks, if you think employment is bad, try unemployment for a little while.

For your own good, as an entrepreneur or anyone else in the organization, you can’t afford to take a negative attitude to your job. According to Dr. Marion Stottlemire at the Kansas University Public Management Center, "One of the greatest causes of stress in the modern world is unhappiness with our work or our work situation. You cannot afford to be unhappy on the job. It is killing you."

That’s why I recommend you getting a copy of my audio recording of a live webinar I delivered a short time ago. It’s called The 11 Secrets of a Positive Attitude that Win Every Time. You get 60-minutes of hard-hitting material and a multi-page handout to go along with it.

Click here to purchase your copy. https://www.drzimmerman.com/product/11-secrets-of-a-positive-attitude-that-win-every-time

? 4. Positive employees see the good in every situation.

Like anyone else, a highly engaged positive employee can see what's wrong with a situation, but they don't get stuck on that point. They keep themselves motivated by seeing the good in any situation and focus on how they could make it better.

By contrast, the negative people focus on a minor annoyance and let it ruin everything. It's like the person who was chosen to attend a training program. Even though the trip and program were paid by her company, the hotel was very nice, and the training was excellent, her only comment about the entire event was the fact that the chairs in the training room were uncomfortable. I'm sure they were. But her focus on the uncomfortable chairs kept her from experiencing the transformation everyone else was experiencing.

Of course, positive employees … who see the good in every situation … may annoy the losers in a company. The losers may see these positive people as Pollyannaish or blind, and they may be disgusted with those people who aren't wallowing in the negativity with them. So be it.

? 5. Positive employees ask how they can do more than is expected.

They’re never satisfied with merely getting by or doing the bare minimum. They know … if they were to do that … that they couldn’t possibly feel good about themselves.

So positive employees find out what’s expected and do their best to exceed those expectations. Whether it's dazzling a customer with better service than she's ever experienced before … or surprising a coworker by offering extra help … positive employees focus on how they can do more, not less.

If you’re trying to assemble a top-notch team, look for these five characteristics in the people you are considering for employment. They will provide the payoffs you’re looking for.

For a copy of Dr. Zimmerman’s latest book, The Champion Edge: Skill Sets That Fire Up Your Business and Life, go to https://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/the-champion-edge-skill-sets-that-fire-up-your-business-and-life/

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To receive more information on Dr. Z’s speaking, training, and leadership coaching, go to https://www.drzimmerman.com/.