Sandler Article

Most of the time, we associate Attitude with an outlook of possibility or an outlook of limitation. The dictionary defines it as a state of mind regarding a person or matter. We all carry attitudes about our employers, our products or services, our marketplace, our prospects and, of course, ourselves.

If you jump out of bed every day, dive into your work with a zing, and find nothing more exciting than reviewing your financial statement for 2018 and projections for 2019, skip to the next article. You don’t need to read this.

Most people who spend a little time searching on the Internet or in a bookstore can quickly find a guide on how to write a business plan. However, just following these templates doesn’t guarantee that the business plan produce will be successful or even good. A successful business plan needs quite a bit more to actually be useful and even more to be functional and successful. As the elements come together, if done correctly, the most important component of success will come from the business owner and leadership versus the company itself.

Competition has definitely been attributed as one of the primary reasons American business has been so successful. No surprise then, the American workplace is also competitive as well. Unfortunately, a side effect of competition is the nature of office politics, particularly when competition is not just based on performance. When networking, familiarity, friendships, and relationships have an influence in competitiveness for better-paying roles, then politics can trigger some negative reactions as people jockey to out-maneuver each other for a promotion or better pay.

Some career paths thrive on competition and office politics. However, team projects and teamwork are not areas where this is productive. After all, the whole point of being on a team is to function as a team, not as competing individuals. That said, politics are pervasive, and can appear at every level of employment. Thus it’s management’s responsibility to keep a cap on this potentially negative element, especially when teams are charged with important work that needs to get done.