Attitude – The First Core Value at Open Sky Group
In my last article, I explained how Open Sky Group discovered and selected its seven core values organically. In this article, I’m going to discuss the first and quite possibly the most important one: Attitude. We define this core value as “a positive outlook and enthusiasm, doing what it takes and inspiring others to do the same.”
At Open Sky Group, we say that we can teach you all the skills to do your job and be successful. We can even pass on our hard-earned lessons and wisdom from our experiences. The one thing we can never teach anyone is a positive attitude. We believe a positive attitude is usually a choice that only you can make for yourself.
This is not necessarily about being happy and smiling all day, although people like that are nice to work with too. We are talking about a person who has made a choice to maintain a positive attitude in their daily lives and does not let challenges or obstacles get them down. This kind of person is enjoyable to work with or for and they can inspire you to be a better person. Since part of Open Sky Group’s purpose is to create the best workplace we can, this core value is essential.
Another benefit is that it’s is a great way to mitigate and deal with the sometimes significant dose of stress during certain phases of our projects. People with a positive attitude handle the stress of go-lives much better than those who don’t exhibit this core value. In fact, the positive attitude can be contagious to junior team members and even our clients. And of course, staying calm and relaxed during those stressful times is far more productive than the alternative.
What if your attitude sucks?
Well, congratulations! Recognizing that your attitude could be improved may be the first step. While largely a choice, there is no doubt that environment, like a bad boss, underperforming co-workers, family members, friends, etc. can have a large impact on it. We can’t control or influence your circle outside of work; we do have a lot of control over your boss and co-workers and make it a priority to fix these problems when they come up. If we stick to our core values with our hiring decisions, those issues generally don’t even present themselves.
You might just need a change of environment along with a conscientious decision to maintain a positive attitude no matter what gets thrown your way. At the end of our onboarding week, we have seen so many new employees tell us of how refreshing it is to be in an environment like Open Sky Group where they feel they are valued and surrounded by so many great people. We have also watched those people do great things and truly exceed everyone’s expectations.
One of our favorite resources for inspiration is Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude. We also think Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is required reading if your job involves working with people.