January 2017

Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................... 2

Attitude conceptual definition........................................................................................................4

BENEFITS of transforming the attitude,.......................................................................................6

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Transformation of attitude and ways of application,......................................................................7

Knowledge Skill and ATTITUDE /KSA/....................................................................................12

Why is Knowledge Important?....................................................................................................13

SKILL, THE ABILITY TO PERFORM......................................................................................16

Skill Development....................................................................................................................... 16

Leadership Soft Skills..................................................................................................................18

Skills Development: Hard and Soft Skills....................................................................................20

How to Start Developing Skills................................................................................................... 21

ATTITUDE, COMMITMENT TO ACT.....................................................................................21

What It Means to Be Committed to a Job....................................................................................25

References............................................................................................................................... 27

Introduction
Human attitude is considered as a complex phenomenon and very difficult to define in absolute
terms. It is primarily a combination of responses to external and internal stimuli. These responses
would reflect psychological structure of the person and may be results' of the combination of
biological and psychological processes,

If human being is the products of his attitude then it is important for him to examine his own
attitude, both positive and negative, to discover the impact they have on human being. Positive
attitudes release a power to achieve the impossible, while negative attitudes severely hamper

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human being effort of capability. It became the central task of anyone interested in actualizing its
enormous potential to become involved in the process of attitudinal transformation.

Attitudinal transformation takes time, effort and determination but it can be done. No one should
expect perfection but just progress. It took a long time to develop positive attitudes but needs
practicing it.
Once a person has identified his negative attitude he wishes to transform, commit himself to the
process of becoming conscious of that attitude cropping up throughout the day. He will be
surprised at how quickly he will become aware of his target attitude. Why are some people quiet
and passive, while others are loud and aggressive? According to Gordon personality is “the
dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his
unique adjustments to his environment.”
Personal differences are emanated from the attitude that everyone acquires. Attitude is brought
from various grounds among which heredity which is determined at conception. It is believed
that some characteristics of attitude are considered to be either completely or substantially
influenced by parents. The other one is environmental or cultural to which some one raised with
peculiar pressures on personality formation. Early conditioning, the norms among family,
friends, and social groups are influences to shape up attitude. Situation has also major influence
over human attitude as human nature is liable to be easily changed under various situations.
Research has begun to reveal that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or
displaying an optimistic attitude. Positive thoughts can actually create real value in life and helps
to build skills that last much longer than a smile. The practice of positive thinking through
attitudinal transformation brings long lasting positive impact on work, health, and the entire life
as it was studied by number of social scientists. That is why this training is all about.

By injecting attitudinal transformation the training creates a platform whereby trainees share
helpful attitude and develop a comprehensive knowledge that would be of big asset for the
challenge and opportunities that awaits them in the years to come.
When dealing with the training, please remember that “Transformation Takes Time”.
Transformation will not happen overnight or purely through the completion of these session. We
recommend that you try to put the exercises into a larger context and within a timeframe of at
least a year. This will increase the teams’ ability to grow, implement and sustain what they learn.

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Change usually happens slowly, one step at a time. Transformation can be a difficult undertaking
and can lead to disastrous results. People need firm foundations during times of change: social,
family, motivational, wisdom, spiritual, mental (unfractured egos and mental health support). But
change also happens during crisis, when there is powerful motivation to change.

Attitude conceptual definition

An attitude is a manner of thinking, feeling, or behaving that reflects a state of mind or
disposition. Attitude may have been formed during childhood development, and it may respond
to behavior modification (changing behavior often does lead to a change in attitude).
Attitude establishes how people interpret the events, situations, and relationships in life. It sets
the answer to: "What does it mean to me?" How will this affect me? Attitude determines how
people go about getting what they want. Attitude is the tale people tell themselves about what
things mean, based on limited experience, or what others have taught about it. It goes to the heart
of narrative psychology because it so involves meaning or meanings, and the stories that
supports them.

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A very fascinating aspect of attitude is that attitudes can determine life. This hints at the idea that
meaning is not a "fixed" absolute item in life, but is something that is evolving and transforming
through time. It hints at something much bigger: the concept that we have some control over
meaning in life.
Factors influencing attitude are Environmental factors, The mass media, Interest groups and
Opinion leaders.
Environmental factors play a critical part in the development of opinions and attitudes. Most
pervasive is the influence of the social environment: family, friends, neighborhood, and place of
work, church, or school. People usually adjust their attitudes to conform to those that are most
prevalent in the social groups to which they belong.
The mass media Newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet—including e-mail and blogs—
are still significant, especially in affirming attitudes and opinions that are already established.
The news media focus the public's attention on certain personalities and issues, leading many
people to form opinions about them.
Interest groups: Interest groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), religious groups, and
labor unions (trade unions) cultivate the formation and spread of public opinion on issues of
concern to their constituencies. These groups may be concerned with political, economic, or
ideological issues, and most work through the mass media as well as by word of mouth.
Opinion leaders: Opinion leaders play a major role in defining popular issues and in influencing
individual opinions regarding them. Political leaders in particular can turn a relatively unknown
problem into a national issue if they decide to call attention to it in the media. One of the ways in
which opinion leaders rally opinion and smooth out differences among those who are in basic
agreement on a subject is by inventing symbols or coining slogans.
What do we know about attitude? Attitude is personal view or feeling about something. It is
intangible, invisible, untouched, It is not easy to change it, It is difficult to measure it. No one
knows whether attitude is changed unless practiced. Then if you are able to change your attitude
you can change everything. The question is how to change it.
Attitude could be changed through, Formal education or short term training, Informal exposure,
Personal reading, Experience sharing OR When incidents occurred that could disprove the usual
pattern.

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Attitude Transformation is, therefore, introduces effective tools, techniques and strategies that
will help people develop a positive mental attitude. The mind map introduces the thought process
and the impact it has on people lives; breaks down two fundamental laws that are critical to the
formation of a Positive Mental Attitude, and presents several effective strategies for eliminating
pessimism.
Thus, attitude transformation is achieved when individuals experience feelings of uneasiness or
guilt due to cognitive dissonance, and actively reduce the dissonance through changing their
attitude, beliefs, or behavior relating in order to achieve consistency with the inconsistent
cognitions. In short attitudinal transformation is a manner of thinking, feeling, or behaving that
reflects a state of mind or disposition: has a positive attitude about work; kept a dignified attitude
throughout the crisis.
In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular
object, person, thing, or event. Attitudes are often the result of experience or upbringing, and
they can have a powerful influence over behavior. While attitudes are enduring, they can also
change.
In other ways in, social psychology, attitudes are evaluations people make about objects, ideas,
events, or other people. Attitudes can be positive or negative. Explicit attitudes are conscious
beliefs that can guide decisions and behavior. Implicit attitudes are unconscious beliefs that can
still influence decisions and behavior. The individual does not necessarily experience changes in
beliefs or evaluations of an attitude object, but rather is influenced by the social outcomes of
adopting a change in behavior. The individual is also often aware that he or she is being urged to
respond in a certain way.

BENEFITS of transforming the attitude,

Attitudes can positively or negatively affect a person's behavior. A person may not always be
aware of his or her attitude or the effect it is having on behavior. A person who has positive
attitudes towards work and co-workers (such as contentment, friendliness, etc.) can positively
influence those around them.
Attitudinal Healing is a cross-cultural method of healing that helps remove self-imposed blocks
such as judgment, blame, shame and self-condemnation that are in the way of experiencing

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lasting love, peace, and happiness. ... Health is defined as inner peace and healing as the letting
go of fear.
Attitudes serve four major functions for the individual: the adjustments function, the ego
defensive function, the value expressive function and the knowledge function.
Besides, a job attitude is a set of evaluations of one's job that constitute one's feelings toward,
beliefs about, and attachment to one's job. Overall job attitude can be conceptualized in two
ways. Employees evaluate their advancement opportunities by observing their job, their
occupation, and their employer.
There are three components of job attitude behavioral component– an intention to behave in a
certain way toward someone or something. Cognitive component – The opinion or belief
segment of an attitude. Affective component– The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.
Every attitude has three components that are represented in what is called the ABC model of
attitudes: A for affective, B for behavioral and C for cognitive. The affective component refers to
the emotional reaction one has toward an attitude object.
With respect to comparison of attitude with that of behavior while attitude involves mind's
predisposition to certain ideas, values, people, systems, institutions; behavior relates to the actual
expression of feelings, action or inaction orally or/and through body language. As a
consequence, the attitude will have a very strong influence upon a person's behavior. By contrast,
an attitude will not be important to a person if it does not relate in any way to their life.
A positive attitude leads to success and happiness. A positive attitude helps you cope more easily
with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid
worries and negative thinking. A negative attitude in the workplace creates an atmosphere of
distrust among employees and causes employees to attempt to achieve success at the expense of
each other. In a workplace with a positive attitude, competition is seen as a motivator that
inspires employees to perform at their best to improve productivity.
A positive attitude, however, doesn't mean ignoring life's troubles. It just means being an
optimist and looking for the good in things, rather than being a pessimist and concentrating on
the bad in things. Sometimes ones perspective can make all the difference in the world.
Below are some advises to fix attitude
Bad attitudes of a person incorporates aggression, anger, betrayal, bigotry, blame, cowardice,
critical, cynical, depression, dishonesty, envy, greed, guarded, hatred, indifference, intolerance,

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irresponsibility, jealousy, pessimism, prejudice, pride, resentment, revenge, sadness, selfishness,
skeptical, suspicious, thoughtlessness, unemotional, etc
The above stated attitudes could be easily tackle if a person is able to follow the understated
elements.

 Only use positive words when talking. ...

 Push out all feelings that aren't positive. ...

 Use words that evoke strength and success. ...

 Practice positive affirmation. ...

 Direct your thoughts. ...

 Believe you will succeed. ...

 Be Grateful.

Transformation of attitude and ways of application,

Understanding which type of change the organization is undergoing is critical to success. A very
common reason for failure in change is leaders inadvertently using approaches that do not fit the
type of change they are leading.
The three types of change occurring in organizations today are: (1) developmental, (2)
transitional, and (3) transformational. Traditional project management and what is commonly
called, “change management” effectively support developmental and transitional change, but
they are insufficient for transformational change. Thus needs to understand the type of change
the organization is in need of.

 Developmental Change
Developmental change is the simplest type of change: it improves what is currently done rather
than creates something new. Improving existing skills, processes, methods, performance
standards, or conditions can all be developmental changes. Specific examples include increasing

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sales or quality, interpersonal communication training, simple work process improvements, team
development, and problem-solving efforts.

 Transitional Change
Transitional change replaces “what is” with something completely new. This requires designing
and implementing a “new state.” The organization simultaneously must dismantle and
emotionally let go of the old way of operating while the new state is being put into place. This
“transitional” phase can be project managed and effectively supported with traditional change
management tools. Examples include reorganizations, simple mergers or acquisitions, creation of
new products or services that replace old ones, and IT implementations that do not radically
impact people’s work or require a significant shift in culture or behavior to be effective.
Two variables define transitional change: (1) one can determine the destination in detail before
begin, and can, therefore, “manage” transition, and (2) people are largely impacted only at the
levels of skills and actions, not the more personal levels of mindset, behavior and culture.

 Transformational Change

Transformation, however, is far more challenging for two distinct reasons. First, the future state
is unknown when begin, and is determined through trial and error as new information is
gathered. This makes it impossible to “manage” transformation with pre-determined, time-bound
and linear project plans. One can have an over-arching change strategy, but the actual change
process literally must “emerge” through time. This means that executives, managers and
frontline workers alike must operate in the unknown—that scary, unpredictable place where
stress and emotions run high.

Second, the future state is so radically different than the current state that the people and culture
must change to implement it successfully. New mindsets and behaviors are required. In fact,
often leaders and workers must shift their worldviews to even invent the required new future, let
alone operate it effectively.

Without these “inner” shifts of mindset and culture, the “external” implementation of new
structures, systems, processes or technology do not produce their intended return on investment
(ROI). For example, many large IT implementations fail because they require a mindset and

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culture change that does not occur, i.e., the new systems require people to share information
across strongly held boundaries or put the needs of the enterprise over their own cover agendas.
Without these changes in attitude and behavior, people do not use the technology as designed
and the change fails to deliver its ROI.

 Implications for the Workforce

Because transformation impacts people so personally, they must be involved in it and provide
their support; and the earlier the better! Employee resistance is always in direct proportion to the
degree to which people are kept in the dark and out of the change process. Here are some options
for employee engagement.

Get staff engaged in building the case for change and determining the vision for the new state.
Consider large group meetings which can involve large number of people simultaneously in
short periods of time.

Consider putting a wider representation of people on change leadership team. Provide mindset,
behavior, and change skill development to all employees. Use employee groups to identify your
customers’ requirements for your transformation, and to benchmark what “best-in-class”
organizations are doing in the industry. Ask employee groups to input to enterprise-wide changes
that impact them, and give them the authority to design the local changes for improving their
work. Then before implementation, get them involved in doing an impact analysis of the design
to ensure whether the project is feasible or not.

When engaging the employees in these ways before implementation, it could minimize
resistance. Such strategies are useful to support the change efforts, especially during
transformation.

 Substantial Facts about Attitude & Organizational Change

New technology, coupled with the alarming global economy, has accelerated the need for
organizational change. Competition drives organizations to take action or be left behind.

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But it wouldn’t be right to talk about organizational change without considering the people who
make up the organization. How do employees cope with sudden—and often significant—change
in their workplace?

With the ever increasing demand for employees to change the way they work, it might be
worthwhile to look at how the modern employee reacts to change.

 The following fact indicates on how employees today view organizational change
and what employers should be looking at in order to retain their best talent.

1. Some studies found that more than half of employees had experienced major change in their
life time. These included mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, outsourcing of jobs and general
restructuring.

2. Similar studies indicate that this level of change will most likely continue. Most organizations
are expected to change themselves in the years to come. Some of them even are changing their
technology replacing manual work through electrification.

While these changes are occurring, there will also be transformational changes that affect the
day-to-day routine of employees. These include changing work hours, changing daily business
operations. Changing a technology will require employees to learn and adapt to the new system
quickly and with a minimum of organizational disruption.

3. The Global Workforce Study indicated that staff experiencing major change in their
organization has less positive views of the following aspects of their job,

 Organizational image

 Company leadership

 Their performance evaluation

 Communication

 Competitiveness

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  Customer focus, empowerment

 Compensation and benefits

 Training, engagement

 Teamwork

 Goals

 Supervision

4. The degree to which employees’ attitudes differ to each other has much to do with change that
has failed. If an organization is proactive with effective change and communication strategies,
they are more likely to outperform companies that do not. In most times out of projects that are
working for change only half of them are succeeding.

5. The change itself and the way it is managed are only part of the equation; a large part of how
employees react to change is influenced by their existing attitude towards change.

In the study, participants were asked if they like new experiences, embrace change, are usually
among the first people to try new technologies and if they are happy to take risks to get the most
out of life. Those who agreed with these statements were more likely to prefer change. Those
who prefer stability were more likely to disagree with those statements.

Further, the study found that employees who prefer change are three times more likely to be
highly engaged at work than those who prefer stability.

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Knowledge Skill and ATTITUDE /KSA/
KNOWLEDGE, getting INFORMATION
SKILL, THE ABILITY TO PERFORM
ATTITUDE, COMMITMENT TO ACT

Knowledge is the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain
mental apprehension. Knowledge provides us with the power to help others, in a variety of ways.
It is also something that is good for our own self esteem. In addition, knowledge imbues us with
authority and enables us to act and interact with others in a more moral way.

Knowledge can include skills, experience and education. At best, it includes all three!
Knowledge can be practical knowledge of the kind used by an engineer or a carpenter, or it can
be more abstract knowledge of the kind that a mathematician uses.

Man has the power to judge situations, decide between what is good and what is bad and make
decisions voluntarily. It is important that we make the best use of the gift of knowledge so that
we achieve great feats and heights in every domain of our life.

Since knowledge is the fuel that drives human life, gaining knowledge is deemed the most
primary activity that prepares man for a long and successful life. Schooling is the very first phase
of a child’s life. During this stage, the society gives a variety of inputs to make the child
knowledgeable learning many things under every known topic.

Without knowledge, one cannot be successful in life. To grow in one’s career, gaining as much
knowledge as possible is important. Knowledge does not pertain to science and technology and
the fields we study in books. Knowledge is also very important to shape our personality and
perfect our behavior and dealings with people.

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We need to understand ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses. We need to learn the art of life.
We must master the techniques of adjusting and accommodating with the changes in our
surroundings and life situations. We must move well with the people and persuade them
effectively to get things done in our favor. We must make best judgments and decide on the right
course that will let us move successfully.

We must save ourselves from dangers and stay balanced and strong during difficulties and
adversities. We must know how to assert our views and also give room to accept the good views
of others. We must learn how to successfully manage relationships and people both at homes and
professional spheres. For all this, knowledge is important.

Knowledge accounts for the success of people. The more knowledgeable you are, the more
advantage you have over the other people. The better you are equipped to manage yourself and
others, the easier your journey of life. More than anything, knowledge must be put to good use.

There is no use of such knowledge that paves way for one’s own destruction, Knowledge should
let you take the right course in life in a way useful to yourself and the society at large. Great men
and women have put their knowledge to good use and have reached exalted heights being
remembered for long on this earth. Knowing the importance of knowledge, people must look to
the potential avenues to gain knowledge and make use of it positively.

Why is Knowledge Important?

Knowledge is, roughly, useful information. It is information that's adapted to a purpose. It is

good explanations, and it is solutions to problems people had. Knowledge shouldn't be expected
to be perfect. A partial solution is still knowledge, even if it contains some mistakes, and can be
improved on in the future.

Knowledge is created by imaginative and critical thought. The key ingredients are both creativity
and criticism. We need numerous ideas, including ones that aren't obvious. And we need error
correction to get rid of flaws. With those two components, we can improve our knowledge and
learn new things.

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When we consider a new idea, the main question should be: "Do you (or anyone else) see
anything wrong with it? And do you (or anyone else) have a better idea?" If the answers are 'no'
and 'no' then we can accept it as our best idea for now.

Knowledge helps us to find the way to solve a variety of issues.

1. It liberates us

Knowledge sets us free, and makes us less dependent on others. Freedom is essential for real
power. Of course, being truly free means that we do not use our power to control other people
against their will.

2. Brings respect

True knowledge commands more respect that mere empty authority within a hierarchy ever
could. If we have knowledge, we can direct others’ decisions and help them to enhance their
lives. Having knowledge about a relevant subject diffuse us with authority. No matter whom we
are, or how old we are, if we have knowledge that is useful to other people, then those people
will respect us.

3. Self esteem

Possessing knowledge can really give us a feeling of self fulfillment and confidence. Knowledge
is something that – no matter how many trials we come across in our life – we can always falls
back on. In addition, if we find ourselves facing a trial in life, knowledge can enable us to find a
solution to the issue that boosts our self esteem even further. What could be more of a confidence
boost than knowing that we used our own skills and knowledge to surmount one of life’s
challenges?

4. Positivity

The process of seeking and finding knowledge teaches us to have a positive attitude about life. It
teaches us to be motivated, determined, engaged with the world and self reliant. It also fills us

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with enthusiasm and joy – after all, humans love learning new things and the process of finding
out new facts is a wonderful end in itself.

5. Morality.

When we have knowledge, we can act more morally. Possessed of all the facts and the relevant
skills, we can put our desire to help others into practice much better than we could do if we had
less knowledge. For example, if we have some money that we wish to donate to charity, knowing
facts about how that money could best be used will enable us to help the greatest number of
people with it.

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the
knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to
achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge.

An established discipline since 1991, KM includes courses taught in the fields of business
administration, information systems, management, library, and information sciences. Other fields
may contribute to KM research, including information and media, computer science, public
health and public policy.

Knowledge management efforts typically focus on organizational objectives such as improved

performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and
continuous improvement of the organization. These efforts overlap with organizational learning
and may be distinguished from that by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a
strategic asset and on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. KM is an enabler of organizational
learning

Knowledge may be accessed at three stages: before, during, or after KM-related activities. One
strategy to KM involves actively managing knowledge (push strategy).In such an instance,
individuals strive to explicitly encode their knowledge into a shared knowledge repository, such

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as a database, as well as retrieving knowledge they need that other individuals have provided
(codification).

Another strategy involves individuals making knowledge requests of experts associated with a
particular subject on an ad hoc basis (pull strategy). In such an instance, expert individual(s)
provide insights to requestor (personalization).

Knowledge management is essentially about getting the right knowledge to the right person at
the right time. This in itself may not seem so complex, but it implies a strong tie to corporate
strategy, understanding of where and in what forms knowledge exists, creating processes that
span organizational functions, and ensuring that initiatives are accepted and supported by
organizational members. Knowledge management may also include new knowledge creation, or
it may solely focus on knowledge sharing, storage, and refinement.

It is important to remember that knowledge management is not about managing knowledge for
knowledge's sake. The overall objective is to create value and leverage and refine the firm's
knowledge assets to meet organizational goals.

SKILL, THE ABILITY TO PERFORM

Skill Development

Skill development is the process of (1) identifying skill gaps, and (2) developing and sharpens
these skills. It is important because skills determine ability to execute plans with success.
Imagine a carpenter trying to build a house. He has the raw materials but lacks good wood
working tools. He has, however, a flimsy hammer and a small screwdriver. Without the right
tools like a hand saw, he can’t turn these raw materials into house building pieces.

It’s the same with goal achievement. In goal achievement, your skills are your tools. The house
is your goal. Just as you need the right tools to build a house, you need the right skills to build
your goal. Without the right skills, you will only frustrate yourself, waste your time, and spend a
lot of time dealing with rudimentary issues caused by the lack of knowledge or lack of skills, as
opposed to progressing in your goal. While difficulty and struggle is part and parcel of any goal

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pursuit, without the right skills, you find yourself struggling more than necessary. Worse still,
this struggle is unconstructive and doesn’t help you move forward.

Skill Development means developing yourself and your skill sets to add value for the
organization and for your own career development. Fostering an attitude of appreciation for
lifelong learning is the key to workplace success. Continuously learning and developing one's
skills requires identifying the skills needed for mobility at Cal, and then successfully seeking out
trainings or on-the-job opportunities for developing those skills.

Developing your skills begins with assessing which skills are important for your desired career
development. Read about career skills in the self-assessment section of this website. Speak with
your supervisor or manager and other career mentors to identify the types of skills that will help
move you forward in your career.

Your development should follow the 70-20-10 rule:

70% of your development should come from on-the-job activities and action learning. This can
include development experiences like managing a project, serving on a cross-functional team,
taking on a new task, job shadowing, job rotation, etc.

20% of your development should come from interactions with others. This includes having a
mentor, being a mentor, coaching, participating in communities of practice, serving as a leader in
a staff organization, etc.

10% of your development should come from training, including classes, seminars, webinars,
podcasts, conferences, etc.

Once you have identified the skills you need to develop to achieve your career goals, your next
step is identifying how you will develop your skills. The two main avenues for developing your
skills are through the following:

Simply skill is the ability acquired on specific profession. Skill gives the following abilities.

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 Ability to lead and influence others – Having the ability to have the confidence to lead a
team and be influential is a tremendous asset.

 Ability to relate and interact with peers, subordinates, and superiors – A strong leader
needs to be effective and interact with individuals from all levels within the organization.

 Ability to analyze information and make decisions – Leaders who are able to analyze
information and make good decisions are more effective than their counterparts.

 Ability to execute and deliver – After a decision is made or a strategic plan is set it needs to
be executed or the strategy will fail.

 Ability to adapt to changes and be innovative- Any organization shall incorporate change
for continuous improvement thus leaders shall follow different paths to adopt change to
accelerate their objective.

Leadership Soft Skills

1. Communication

As a leader, you need to be able to clearly and succinctly explain to your employees everything
from organizational goals to specific tasks. Leaders must master all forms of communication,
including one-on-one, departmental, and full-staff conversations, as well as communication via
the phone, email, and social media. A large part of communication involves listening. Leaders
should make themselves regularly available to discuss issues and concerns with employees.

2. Motivation

Leaders need to inspire their workers to go the extra mile for their organization; just paying a fair
salary to employees is typically not enough inspiration (although it is important too). There are a
number of ways to motivate your workers: you may build employee self-esteem through
recognition and rewards, or by giving employees new responsibilities to increase their
investment in the company.

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3. Delegating

Leaders who try to take on too many tasks by themselves will struggle to get anything done.
These leaders often fear that delegating tasks is a sign of weakness, when in fact it is a sign of a
strong leader. Therefore, you need to identify the skills of each of your employees, and assign
duties to each employee based on his or her skill set. By delegating tasks to staff members, one
can focus on other important tasks.

4. Positivity

A positive attitude can go a long way in an office. You should be able to laugh at yourself when
something doesn't go quite as planned; this helps create a happy and healthy work environment,
even during busy, stressful periods. Simple acts like asking employees about their vacation plans
will develop a positive atmosphere in the office, and raise morale among staff members. If
employees feel that they work in a positive environment, they will be more likely to want to be at
work, and will therefore be more willing to put in the long hours when needed.

5. Trustworthiness

Employees need to be able to feel comfortable coming to their manager or leader with questions
and concerns. It is important for you to demonstrate your integrity — employees will only trust
leaders they respect. By being open and honest, you will encourage the same sort of honesty in
your employees.

6. Creativity

As a leader, you have to make a number of decisions that do not have a clear answer; you
therefore need to be able to think outside of the box. Learning to try nontraditional solutions, or
approaching problems in nontraditional ways, will help you to solve an otherwise unsolvable
problem. Most employees will also be impressed and inspired by a leader who doesn't always
choose the safe, conventional path.

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7. Feedback

Leaders should constantly look for opportunities to deliver useful information to team members
about their performance. However, there is a fine line between offering employees advice and
assistance, and micromanaging. By teaching employees how to improve their work and make
their own decisions, you will feel more confident delegating tasks to your staff.

8. Responsibility

A leader is responsible for both the successes and failures of his or her team. Therefore, you need
to be willing to accept blame when something does not go correctly. If your employees see their
leader pointing fingers and blaming others, they will lose respect for you. Accept mistakes and
failures, and then devise clear solutions for improvement.

9. Commitment

It is important for leaders to follow through with what they agree to do. You should be willing to
put in the extra hours to complete an assignment; employees will see this commitment and
follow your example. Similarly, when you promise your staff a reward, such as an office party,
you should always follow through. A leader cannot expect employees to commit to their job and
their tasks if he or she cannot do the same.

10. Flexibility

Mishaps and last-minute changes always occur at work. Leaders need to be flexible, accepting
whatever changes come their way. Employees will appreciate your ability to accept changes in
stride and creatively problem-solve.

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Similarly, leaders must be open to suggestions and feedback. If your staff is dissatisfied with an
aspect of the office environment, listen to their concern and be open to making necessary
changes. Employees will appreciate a leader's ability to accept appropriate feedback.

Skills Development: Hard and Soft Skills

In developing skills, one should consider the two groups of skills:

 Hard skills: Skills relating to any specific task; they are usually easily quantifiable. They
tend to be knowledge-based, such as proficiency in a subject, certification, and
technical skills. Fluency in Spanish, skills in XYZ software, graphic design, and
programming are all hard skills.
 Soft skills: Skills relating to personality and tend to be transferable, such as
communication, leadership, time management, stress management, decision making,
adaptability, ability to deal with adversity, and networking.

How to Start Developing Skills

1) Start with the core skills

If you’re starting from ground zero, such as learning programming when you don’t know
anything about coding, it can be intimidating as there are a multitude of things to learn. Start
with core skills first.

 Core skills are skills you absolutely need to succeed in your goal. They have a direct
impact on your success.
 Secondary skills are of lower importance vs. the core skills. While they accentuate your
success, your expertise in them does not make or break your goal.

2) Break into little steps

3) Learn from the best

4) Research

5) Attend trainings

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6) Take action

ATTITUDE, COMMITMENT TO ACT

Work Commitment

Work commitment is seen as a person's adherence to work ethic, commitment to a

career/profession, job involvement, and organizational commitment (Morrow, 1993).
Individuals can feel committed to an organization, top management, supervisors, or a particular
work group. Studies showing instances of high work commitment have also proven to highly
relate to organizational performance. It affects all organizations at some level and enables
companies to evaluate issues like turnover during times of varying economic stability. All of
these attitudes interact to shape the conceptual framework of each individual's work
commitment. The following information analyzes these attitudes as well as other organizational
concepts, research, and real world applications.

Importance of Work Commitment

The success or failure of an organization is closely related to the effort and motivation of its
employees. The motivation of employees is often the product of their commitment towards their
job or career. The level to which an employee engages in his or her work (job involvement),
commits to and believes in the organization's goals and purpose (organizational commitment),
desires to work (work ethic), and commits to a specific career or profession can all have an
impact on an organization. In today's economy, where organizations are expected to do more
with less resources (i.e., people and money), it is extremely important for organizations to retain
their highly productive employees.

In short, the importance of work commitment is dependent upon the organization itself. If the
organization wants to become competitive and grow, as in the example above, it will place a
great deal of importance on the level to which employees are engaged in their jobs and how
committed the employees are to the organization. On the other hand, if the organization is
content with high turnover, low-producing employees, and high absenteeism, they should not be
concerned with work commitment. However, the leaders of that organization must realize that, at
some point in its organizational life cycle, the organization will undoubtedly have to compete

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with an organization that does place importance on work commitment, which could end up being
detrimental to the continued existence of the organization.

Work Ethic

The concept of work ethic was first defined in 1904 by a German sociologist by the name of Max
Weber. Work ethic has been described as a person’s desire to work and has been commonly
considered a personality trait. While it may be a common idea that every person possesses a
certain level of need to work, this trait has differing levels ranging from individuals with very
high levels, to individuals with very low levels, and to others that fall in between.

A more modern definition of work ethic places more emphasis on "dedication to hard work,
deferment of immediate rewards, conservation of resources...and the avoidance of idleness and
waste in any form.

Recently work ethic is a more widely accepted idea in the American Culture. In fact, bosses are
more likely to blame an employee's work ethic for any work related failures before looking into
any other possible explanations, such as lack of abilities or resources to complete certain tasks.

Organizational Commitment Overview

Organizational commitment is defined as the degree of an individual’s relations and experiences

as a sense of loyalty toward one’s organization. In addition to loyalty, organizational
commitment encompasses an individual's willingness to extend effort in order to further an
organizations goals and the degree of alignment the organization has with the goals and values of
the individual.

Organizational commitment refers to the extent to which an employee develops an attachment

and feels a sense of allegiance to his or her employer. The emotional attachment that one may
form with their company would help build a stronger commitment.

Allen and Meyer (1996) have defined organizational commitment as a psychological link
between an employee and his or her organization that makes it less likely that the employee will
voluntarily leave the organization.

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Organizational commitment is related to job satisfaction in that both deal with the nature of
workers' emotional reactions to work. However, commitment can be applied to the entire
organization, whereas satisfaction is applied to the specific job.

Organizational commitment is viewed as more stable than satisfaction. An individual also relates
commitment to job involvement and the level of job involvement.

Within this theory, the concepts applied to the commitment to an organization are the work
ethics of individual and the intensity of participation by said individual.

These concepts can determine the level of commitment to an organization. However, the
application of these concepts can be directed by several variables such as age, culture, emotions,
personality traits, desires, and individual differences among other factors and can be present to a
certain degree in many situations.

Categories of Organizational Commitment

Given that the nature of organizational commitment is layered in terms of one’s possible
commitment level, three specific commitment types have been identified:

Affective Commitment – Refers to one’s feelings of loyalty to a company or organization

because he or she believes in the organization. This is the most common type studied and refers
to "an employee's emotional attachment to and identification with the organization.

Continuance Commitment - Refers to an employee feeling that he/she has to stay with the
company because the costs of leaving are too great. This is manifested by an individual who
maintains commitment to the organization because he/she is unable to match salary and/or
benefits with another employer.

Normative Commitment – Of the three types of commitment, normative is the least researched
of all of them and refers to the employee that feels that he/she owes it to the employer to stay out
of a perceived obligation. These feelings of obligation may come because the employer took a
chance on the employee when nobody else would. In turn, the employee feels indebted to the
employer. Therefore, by a show of loyalty and duty, it would be difficult to leave.

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je Hoek 24 June 2016

Employee commitment can take different forms. As a result it is often seen as an HR variable
which is difficult to define. The context, direction and development of commitment, as well as
the extent to which commitment influences behavior can result in confusion and debate.

What It Means to Be Committed to a Job

Your boss wants employees who feel passionate about what they're doing. No business can
survive for long unless employees have a personal investment in its success. Committed
employees do whatever it takes to excel, even if it means taking on extra tasks, or staying beyond
their allotted schedule. Savvy employers reward these work habits by offering chances for
advancement -- which reduces turnover, and attracts other applicants who are willing to show the
same degree of commitment.

Customer Engagement

Employers get the best results by modeling a customer-focused leadership style, according to an
analysis posted on the Gaebler.com website. If you're committed to your job, you already
recognize that satisfaction means going beyond the bare minimum expectations of making
customers happy. You understand the virtue of customer loyalty, make customers feel like
they're partners in the organization's long-term success, and show an eagerness to promote its
products and services in your conversations with them.

Professional Development

Showing vocal enthusiasm about your job goes nowhere unless you're willing to grow
professionally. The chance to learn new things is directly tied to employees' hopes for
advancement, according to an analysis by the Indiana Association for Community Economic
Development. Such concerns rank 11th in employees' conditions for feeling satisfied with a job.

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Good employees realize that there's always a way to do something better, and they are willing to
pursue opportunities that allow them to take stronger roles in how a company functions.

Track Record

For recruiters like Harrison Barnes, your professional track record provides the best evidence of
your commitment. Employees who change jobs too often in a short time period risk pushing
themselves out of their chosen industry, Barnes asserts. Holding two or more jobs years in five
years poses a big red flag for recruiters, because it suggests you won't stick around long enough
to build your skills at a particular company. The scenario also suggests that the problem lies with
you, not any former employers.

Work Schedule
From an employer's standpoint, one of the most obvious signs of commitment is how employees
approach the length of their workday. Good employees accept that sometimes, they might have
to show up early -- or stay later -- to help a company accomplish its mission. By contrast,
workers who can't wait to punch out at 5:00 are probably more concerned about the employer's
ability to make payroll, and less interested in the organization's welfare -- or their own role there.

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