Hi there and welcome. It’s Kerstin Jatho here from 4Seeds Consulting, a transformational coach who shifts people from languishing to flourishing. In this video, I want to talk to you about shifting your attitude. Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist, said that ‘once I can accept myself, I can accept change’.
What he’s trying to say is that we very often look towards the external and think that once this happens … all that happens … then I can change. We’ve got it the wrong way around. We’ve got to look at ourselves first and think, ‘if I change, if my behaviour and my attitude changes, then the external changes’.
So, looking at it from another viewpoint, our brain is hardware which likes structure and order. And your attitude is the software. Very often, we upgrade the hardware and neglect the software. But we really need to look at the software first, because the software changes the brain through a concept called neuroplasticity, i.e. the thoughts and the neurons in your brain get rewired and your attitude changes.
I’m sure you all try to change a habit and you’ve so hard gone and changed it, practicing it over and over. But if your attitude wasn’t correct, you set yourself up for failure. It didn’t work. It didn’t matter how hard you tried, how hard that environment was correct. The same applies to your teams. It’s about creating the environment where they have the right attitude, where they can look at that versus the external environment of thinking ‘once this project is over, or once we have achieved this, or once that has happened, then we can do that’. It’s about ‘who do we need to become right now’? It’s reversing those roles.
Four steps to help you and your team change that attitude
Step 1
Firstly, what is exciting about this project? What really excites you because that creates an attitude change.
Step 2
Secondly, what is the opportunity here in this task or project?
Step 3
Thirdly, it is about ‘what would make this situation or opportunity easier for me?’So really challenging your thought processes.
Step 4
And fourthly, becoming very clear on ‘who do you want to become?’ Being mindful that your brain keeps you in the comfort zone. But it’s shifting your attitude, where you really experience growth and learning. So, help your team to change their attitude because it might be stuck or require an overhaul.
Look at what are the opportunities, how they can learn from them, how they are exciting, and who they actually want to become. Use those questions to stimulate conversation and to shift the attitude, upgrading the software, the hardware will come automatically
Over to you for sharing your comments and experiences.
When last have you checked in with your team on what their attitude is like?
About the Author: Kerstin Jatho
Kerstin is the senior transformational coach and team development facilitator for 4Seeds Consulting. She is also the author of Growing Butterfly Wings, a book on applying positive psychology principles during a lengthy recovery. Her passion is to develop people-centred organisations where people thrive and achieve their potential in the workplace. You can find Kerstin on LinkedIn, Soundcloud, YouTube and Facebook.
