 My name is Angela Kegler and I'm going to be the instructor for your upcoming course. Allow me to introduce myself. I've been teaching in both the collegiate and corporate environment for over a decade now. I have a PhD in organizational development, which gives me the opportunity to have the academic experience in learning the tools that you need to learn and also the experience or the practitioner side where I've had to employ these tools in the workplace. Like you, I've also sat in the seats and had to learn these skills in such a fashion that I can turn around and teach them to you. I hope that you enjoy my teaching style and the content that I have to deliver for you. Happy learning! Let's start with the first concept, attitude in the workplace. With this concept, we're going to explore what is attitude? What are your responsibilities, what are professional behaviors, task-oriented behaviors, and how your attitude and your job work together? So what is attitude? Well, when we hear the word attitude, the first thing we think of is maybe some negative attitudes or negative behaviors that we've seen by others. Well, let's look at this definition. Attitude is a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior. What this means is that our attitude is generated by what we believe. So that means if we have a specific belief, it's actually going to come out through our behaviors and that is what we see as attitude. So what are your responsibilities? As an administrative assistant and how does attitude impact it? Well your responsibilities are to first help organizations to be as productive as possible. That's the general tasks that you are responsible for is to be productive and help your organization to be productive. To do so, you're responsible for maintaining a positive attitude. Your attitude can really make or break the productivity of the organization. You have to be positive and enthusiastic about the goals and the direction that the organization is going. When you create a positive work environment, you can create an enthusiastic and optimistic outlook for everybody else. Folks will look to you, your colleagues and coworkers will look to you for that positive work environment. Now positive doesn't mean Pollyanna. You have to be honest and you also have to be realistic. However, being honest, giving a true but positive picture of where things are at, an optimistic picture of where things are going regardless of whether things are looking dim or not at the current time. Your responsibility is to also show respect for others. In respecting others, you can keep a positive work environment for everybody around you. They will in turn show you the same respect that you would like to have and show others. So your responsibility is to help the organization be as productive as possible by maintaining a positive attitude, being optimistic and enthusiastic, creating that positive work environment by being honest and respecting others. What are some personal behaviors that you can demonstrate that will help you with your attitude? The first thing is be sensitive to what we call the rhythm of others. Ask questions at convenient times. Consider it this way. Your colleagues, your coworkers and those that you work for will have busy schedules just as you will by finding their rhythm and taking time to insert at their times of maybe some down time or having time for you and asking questions at those convenient times. They can give you the attention that you need that will allow you to have the information you need to be productive as well as help them be productive. You can also update and monitor current needs of other personnel by keeping your own eye on the rhythm of others in the workplace and understanding where everybody else is at. Then you can give others updates, you can monitor current needs and you can fulfill those needs by proactively making appropriate changes immediately, meaning that if you see something that needs to be done, proactively seek out getting it done. That is an incredibly professional behavior because you're taking the proactive approach and others will recognize that as positive. Another professional behavior is to seek out opportunities to make the office more efficient. Your role is so unique that you'll have the opportunity to see where others are at in their specific roles. You're like a piece of the puzzle that brings all of the puzzles to get puzzle pieces together. So if you can seek opportunities to help everybody else in the office be more efficient, that may be from keeping the office supplied with proper supplies to ensuring that people are where they need to be when they need to be there, making sure agendas are printed or communicated. All of those opportunities that can help folks know where they need to be when they need to be there and have the resources that they need so that they can become more efficient. Also recognizing a customer complaint as an opportunity for improvement can set you apart as a professional. Often individuals see customer complaints as just a problem. But you, being the professional, recognizing a customer complaint as an opportunity for improvement can create that positive work environment and be recognized as a professional. Another professional behavior that you will often find is when other departments request assistance or help, you can find it and help them find it as quickly as possible. Again, this ties into proactivity. If other departments are in needs, if you can assess those needs ahead of time and direct those individuals to where they can find their resources or assist them, that's going to set you apart as a professional. And not just somebody that they have to go to when they need your help. And finally, when working on a project, if you're happy to insert last minute changes, even if it means considerable more work for you, you will be seen as a professional. This all ties to attitude because they are your beliefs, your support, and your desire to help others that will turn around in behavior, these professional behaviors, that will show others your professionalism in the office. Let's take a look at task-oriented behaviors. When we say task-oriented, they don't necessarily take attitude into play. Task-oriented behaviors would be things like interrupting others whenever help is needed with individual tasks. You're driving the behavior by the need for help. That can turn into interrupting others as opposed to being aware of what their rhythm is and only going to them when they have the opportunity to assist you. Other task-oriented behaviors could be like keeping information the way it's always been because it's easier. Well, sometimes doing something different can show professionalism because you're proactively seeking out improvement as opposed to doing things or keeping things the way they always have been. Another task-oriented behavior would be to change nothing unless it's instructed by a manager. Often managers are very busy and they're going to expect you to be the one who sees the need for change. And if you see the need for change, speaking up is going to be more professional as opposed to being focused on the task and not changing it. Another task-oriented behavior is answering each request individually without noticing patterns or trends. When you can see the trends, when you can see the patterns and be able to put them together, you can demonstrate more professionalism and seek out opportunities for improvement. When you just answer each request individually as it's an individual request, that's more task-oriented and does not necessarily relate to professionalism. If you dread messages from unhappy customers because maybe you don't know what to say or you don't know what to do, that's more task-oriented than professional. And finally, delaying other department's requests so that they can learn how to do it on their own is not professional. That is very task-oriented. A professional doesn't delay other department's requests and doesn't look at ways to help them figure out on their own how to do things. Professional will take the attitude of, I'm here to help and assist the other department's need and fulfill their needs. Let's take a look at your attitude and your job. The magic key that opens up your mind and heart to better job performance and a better life is your attitude. A positive attitude can help you do several things in the workplace. Well, first of all, it can help you to consider your job as a part of the larger picture in your entire organization. You may just have one job and it may be a small job. It could be a large job, but you are one part of an organization and without you, the organization is not effective. So a positive attitude recognizes that and sees the importance of your job to the effectiveness of the entire organization. A positive attitude also helps you to visualize your potential when dealing with other employees, customers, and clients. That means that you can make a huge potential in success of what other employees are trying to accomplish, what your customers' needs are, and how clients' needs are being met. By visualizing your potential and striving for that potential, you can make your co-workers, your customers, and your clients needs much more effective. And finally, a positive attitude will help you to understand how your attitude affects and impacts other people's attitudes and performance. Think about it this way. When somebody smiles at you, you smile back. We mirror other people's attitudes. Well, if you have a strong positive attitude and that is being demonstrated through your behaviors and your performance, others will mirror you. You can impact their attitude to make it positive and make their performance effective. Thank you.