"Managers and supervisors have extraordinary influence in shaping workplace attitudes."

By Dean B. Wisecarver 

The shaping of individuals’ attitudes toward their jobs and performance in those jobs takes place almost daily through interaction with people at work, especially through interactions with their direct supervisors and managers. Yes, managers and supervisors have extraordinary influence in shaping the workplace attitudes of the people they supervise. The question is, will they use this influence in positive, effective ways or unwittingly allow poor attitudes to develop.

Let me tell you a real-life story about a young woman that many years ago helped me learn some important lessons about workplace attitudes. This story requires a bit of background.

Early in my career I was promoted to a staff position in my company’s home office. The staff department grew from three to four staff specialists when I came aboard. At the time there was just one department secretary so the department director, Jim, asked Human Resources to help him find and hire an additional clerical support position. Human Resources had its own agenda when it came to staffing, and under corporate direction, Jim was forced to accept a young woman that he would not have considered otherwise.

So a young woman named Pam came to us freshly out of high school and full of enthusiasm about landing her first real job. What poor Pam didn’t know was that our boss already resented her because he felt pressured into accepting her and our existing department secretary resented her because she felt her own role and power threatened. If ever there was a scenario for failure, this was it.

In a matter of just about three weeks, this smiling, enthusiastic young woman was reduced to a withdrawn, unsmiling, often tardy or absent employee. Jim hardly spoke to her except to point out every little error or flaw in her work. He quickly announced that only the existing secretary could be trusted do his personal work because Pam took too long to get it right. A couple of the other staff specialists followed his lead and began complaining about her being slow and not fixing her typos. Being new to the company and having been shunned by the regular secretary, Pam took her lunches and breaks by herself and became largely isolated. At her work, she feared the constant criticism so much that she never sought out help or direction. She showed no pride in her work, self-confidence or initiative, and only attempted improvements begrudgingly.

By the end of two months, Jim was actively gathering documentation he needed to terminate her. It was a sad situation and I felt the need to intervene. Fortunately, over coffee one morning, I discovered I had an ally in one of the other three specialists, Gene. We shared the same feelings about what was happening to Pam and, together, we concocted a plan.

The plan was simple. Gene and I would volunteer to let Pam handle all of our work exclusively and, in the process, we would try to help her improve. Much to my surprise, Jim agreed.

After a little strategy session of our own, Gene and I began focusing our feedback to Pam on all of the things she did correctly. We smiled as much as possible and thanked her for every bit of work she did for us, even the work that still needed some fixing up. We eliminated arbitrary direction by explaining the “whys” behind our instructions and requests. We made editing corrections on the drafts she typed to show what needed fixing, but we also put lots of positive notes in the margins next to sections of documents she did well. In general, we found ways to assure her we were paying attention and appreciated every aspect of her work, especially those that she did well.

After just one week, Pam was turning her work around faster. She was finding and fixing her typos before returning our documents. She began taking the initiative to come to us to ask for clarification and/or direction when something wasn’t clear to her. And her smile was back. By the end of the second week, she was finding and fixing little errors Gene or I made in our own drafts. She had the ability to comprehend the written material as she was typing it and often she would stop and bring me my draft to ask if that’s what I really want to say or offer suggestions on changing the syntax of a sentence to make it clearer. I was impressed and I thanked her repeatedly for her diligence and help. After just three weeks, Pam was proud of her work, proud of her contributions to our work, and proud to be an integral part of our little team. Her improvement was astounding.

Pam was often ten or fifteen minutes late to work during that first week. Considering the other performance issues we were working to correct, neither Gene or I said anything about it. But one morning the second week, I arrived to find her already at her desk working on something for Gene. I remember saying, “Hey, you’re in early today. Good for you. I’m impressed and I’m sure Gene will appreciate your effort. I hope you know that you don’t need to start before 8 o’clock to impress us. We’re already impressed.” That’s all I said. She was never again late or absent from work.

Pam continued to improve over the ensuing months, becoming an exceptionally competent and reliable associate. In retrospect, I believe a big part of our success was that Gene and I developed our own little habit of quietly thanking her for all the good work she did. Not work that was exceptional, just work that met our expectations. We didn’t ignore the things she needed to improve, we just put those things into balance with what she did well. Once she began to feel appreciated and good about herself, we noticed that if we corrected some aspect of her work, we only had to do it once and it was corrected for good.

Unfortunately, this real-life story has a bittersweet ending. Pam eventually left us for a better position in another company. She went on to become a successful executive secretary and later was promoted to a supervisory position. Good for her. What a competent, classy, talented person she turned out to be. And just think -- we almost fired her.

My story is a somewhat extreme and dramatic example but it is absolutely true and it serves to reveal some important, fundamental lessons about managing/supervising people in a business situation. In the next issue of RE-Marks we will delve into each of those six fundamental lessons and provide some practical steps we as managers can take to use them in our every day interactions with those around us at work, steps that can dramatically effect workplace attitudes. And, as you will quickly see, these steps are equally effective at home too!