“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important that facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”—Charles Swindoll

There are three major types of work-related attitudes: attitudes toward others, attitudes toward the job and attitudes toward the organization.

Attitudes towards others

Without a strong corporate culture, our attitudes towards others are not based on what we know about people, but rather on stereotypes and assumptions, both positive and negative. Without taking the time to learn how to work with your teammates, we rely on these stereotypes as sort of a mental shortcut. Going through the sometimes inconvenient process of getting to know your team and learning how to work with them can have a tremendous positive impact on co-worker relations, job performance and the overall success of the organization.

Attitudes toward the job

Some people have a disposition toward high job satisfaction and others have a disposition toward low job satisfaction. It is crucial to recognize the signs of people who are dissatisfied with their jobs - poor job performance, withdrawn social interactions, absenteeism - and work together to redirect before you eventually lose a member of your team. Attitudes, both positive and negative, affect everything in the corporate environment. Job dissatisfaction negatively affects quality of products and services, customer satisfaction, workplace culture, the attitudes of other team members and eventually the financial performance of the company. The consequences of job dissatisfaction are so incredibly powerful, that it makes good business sense to make worker satisfaction a top priority and formulate ways to retain and build happiness and engagement among your team.

Attitudes toward the organization

Lastly, a team member’s attitude toward the company, or organizational commitment, is the level of involvement and interest in the organization and a desire to remain part of the company. Strongly committed team members bring the benefits of great loyalty, a willingness to learn, and they make sacrifices required for an organization to thrive. Considering all the benefits of organizational commitment, it makes good business sense for companies to increase commitment among their employees by developing strong, team-centric workplace cultures based on trust, open communication, and incentive systems.

The Culture Counts blog is a discussion of law firm culture and legal innovation, including topics such as effective leadership, employee engagement, workplace culture, ideal work environment, company core values, and workplace productivity.  

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Klemchuk LLP is a litigation, intellectual property, transactional, and international business law firm dedicated to protecting innovation. The firm provides tailored legal solutions to industries including software, technology, retail, real estate, consumer goods, ecommerce, telecommunications, restaurant, energy, media, and professional services. The firm focuses on serving mid-market companies seeking long-term, value-added relationships with a law firm. Learn more about experiencing law practiced differently and our local counsel practice.

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