Do we have it wrong about attitude?
[powerpress]
As I watched my hometown team win its first-ever World Series it struck me how all the players credited their “will to win” and that very little was said about actual skill. Team members lined up to talk about “heart” and “perseverance.” One ebullient player said about the other (losing) team: “They played a great series, we just wanted it more.”
Really? REALLY?
Would the outcome have been reversed if the losing team spent more time in dream therapy or vision-casting? Should players favor meditation over batting practice? Rather than warming up a pitcher in the bullpen, should managers instead have them read inspirational poems before taking the mound?
Attitude is a valuable component in success, but we promote it to preeminence because we’ve been taught to downplay our abilities in deference to others. Society frowns on those who speak about their own abilities because doing so sounds braggadocios. If a player on the winning team says, “We won because we played better baseball” his words are translated into a criticism of his opponents.
Charles Swindoll is one of my favorite writers. He’s a great story-teller and teacher, and while conventional wisdom certainly supports his popular essay titled Attitude, he got it wrong when he wrote,
With deep respect for Chuck’s body of work, attitude alone will not give you the ability to play that “one string” you’ve been given.
Think about a reverse scenario. If someone really believes they can do something and they totally lack ability . . . we consider them deluded. So how is it that we can point to skill as being a mere 10% of the reason for success?
Truth is, victory doesn’t require a winning attitude, self-confidence or even perseverance. Consider an emotionless computer program that plays chess. Belief might help you retain a focus on your abilities, but the winning attitude must be backed up with actual skill or it’s only a pipe dream.
Please don’t hear something I’m not saying: I am not ignoring the importance of attitude, but rather questioning the common perception that it’s the most important factor. A perception it holds at the expense of ability, which I see as far more critical to actual success.
It’s time to start giving praise where it’s due. When you enjoy success, acknowledge the skill it took to achieve it. Have a healthy sense of pride in those things you’re good at. Don’t be arrogant about it, but don’t hide it under a bag or behind a wall.
Discussion Ideas
- Which came first, the seed or the flower? Does a winning attitude precede superior ability, or does super ability foster the winning attitude?
- What factors are essential for success and which can add to success?
- Talk with your management team about recent successes and failures? To what degree were the results influenced by attitude and which by ability?
It may sound nice to downplay your skills, but the next time your team wins, be truthful and say, “I’m pleased with the way our team was able to combine their skills and put us over the top.“
Jim,
Of course, I like and largely agree with the above practical viewpoint that balances the popular mantra of “Attitude is Everything”, especially as it draws attention to a basic truth that skills and knowledge needed to do something well cannot be ignored.
Just to develop my trail of thought on this, I wish to offer a few counterpoints and clarifications that occur to me:
-When starting to develop one’s ability and performance in anything, learning and practising the basic skills are key, the only attitude one needs, perhaps, is the willingness to learn. Once you reach a fairly high level of skill, outperforming the peer group requires the right attitudes. This is where the importance of mental training starts to kick in
-The reason the self-help and leadership development literature emphasize attitude is that it is often missed by those who pursue deeper levels of knowledge in the (incorrect) hope that expertise equals excellence. The way I look at it, the strengths approach celebrates the innate predisposition we have toward certain kinds of activities and situations, and asks us to complement our talents with skills and knowledge
-I do believe that the commercial aspect of selling hope in the form of inspirational inputs has overshadowed the common sense of focusing on building skills but again, that message is still not a mainstream idea in the corporate world. The last few decades of the previous century gave us enough and more on how-to tips so the importance of skills and knowledge are accepted as a given
-The chess example does not translate fully because most real life activities at work involve abilities involving people interaction where it is not a pure rule-based skill that leads to excellence
Having said all that, I wonder if attitude is something that can as easily and as quickly changed as specific areas of knowledge and skill.
I would summarize by saying that at periodic stages of attaining skilled levels of performance, one needs to consider the attitudinal orientation necessary to catapult to the next league.
P.S. You may be interested in a thread I started at the Strengths Engagement Forum of the Employee Engagement Network at http://employeeengagement.ning.com/group/engagestrengths/forum/topics/challenges-in-propagating
Would love to hear from a fellow strengths trainer on that topic.
-Ganesh
No dispute about the intrinsic influence of attitude on results. My complaint, as I think you also state, is that we have placed an over-emphasis on attitude being the larger element. It certainly can and does make a difference in outcomes, but not at the expense or instead of ability. Attitude can aid you in channeling your strengths, but it cannot take the place of under-developed skills. If the skill isn’t there, no amount of attitude will give you success. Thanks for checking in.
Jim,
You make some great points that I have no trouble agreeing with. I think you may be missing the point about what Charles Swindol had to say about attitude though. I was recently forced to resign from the CEO position of a wonderful ministry. Looking at the metrics of what we were accomplishing, things were exceptional! Donor income was better than ever. Staff engagement was extraordinary. My gifts and abilities were being maximized. Using your baseball metaphor, we were sweeping the series. But behind the scenes there where several political landmines that I was unaware of when I took the CEO job. The next thing I know the referee made a bad call I was thrown out of the game. I had to walk away from a job I really enjoyed and a ministry that I had invested 26 yrs of my life into.
I could become bitter, give up on ministry and go out and get a “REAL” job. This is where Swindol’s statement comes into play. When he says “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” I have chosen to forgive and move on. God is not finished with me yet. I am trusting Him and choosing, by faith, to believe that He will turn this into something good as He promises He will in Romans 8:28. This is the attitude issue I believe Swindol was addressing. It was not about abilities. All of us have attitude choices we make very day, some big some small, that will affect our health, our relationships, our happiness, our joy. Its our attitude, not our abilities that will allow us to face the certain difficulties of this life.
David – first off: the story of your situation is disheartening. I hear FAR too many of these reports coming from Christian ministries. Probably not as many as companies in the secular market, but Jesus said “among you it will be different” and we just aren’t, often enough.
You’re correct – bad referee calls can negate superior skill and derail an attitude. In that regard, Chuck’s essay is right on. There are times when we allow circumstances to darken our attitude. Doing so, shifts focus away from performing at our highest level and affects the outcome.
But even in this, it’s the ability that decides the end result. The attitude softens the ability, or causes us to focus on something else. We need the attitude that Chuck writes about to help us stay focused on doing our best work. Without the attitude, our skills are hidden, but it’s still the skill that scores the point.