he goal of this exercise is to challenge your knowledge of potentially bad attitudes that can derail a positive approach.   For each person, determine which potentially bad attitude his or her behavior best exemplifies. If a person’s behavior does not characterize a bad attitude, select “Does not represent a bad attitude.”   1. When Caleb wants to express discontent about something at work, he goes around having conversations with coworkers and tries to manipulate them into saying things that he can then use to support his position.   (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude    2. Lily always immediately RSVPs to departmental social events with a “no.”   (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude    3. Natalia describes her personality as highly agreeable.   (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude    4. William doesn’t take personal responsibility when things go awry for the team he leads. Instead he always attributes responsibility for failures to his team members.   (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude    5. If you want to know of any potential holes in you

Identify Potentially Bad Attitudes

A positive approach represents a willingness to accept developmental feedback, to try and suggest new ideas, and to maintain a positive attitude at work. Maintaining a positive approach can be a difficult task for managers—it is easy for managers to allow negative attitudes and behaviors to get the best of them during difficult times at work. This activity is important because a knowledge of potentially bad attitudes helps managers to recognize and replace these attitudes and behaviors with more positive ones.

The goal of this exercise is to challenge your knowledge of potentially bad attitudes that can derail a positive approach.

For each person, determine which potentially bad attitude his or her behavior best exemplifies. If a person’s behavior does not characterize a bad attitude, select “Does not represent a bad attitude.”

1. When Caleb wants to express discontent about something at work, he goes around having conversations with coworkers and tries to manipulate them into saying things that he can then use to support his position.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

2. Lily always immediately RSVPs to departmental social events with a “no.”

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

3. Natalia describes her personality as highly agreeable.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

4. William doesn’t take personal responsibility when things go awry for the team he leads. Instead he always attributes responsibility for failures to his team members.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

5. If you want to know of any potential holes in your idea, just ask Sami. He loves to tell people all the reasons their ideas won’t work.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

6. Maya makes a gagging motion whenever lower-level coworkers offer ideas in meetings.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

7. Yusuf likes to focus on generating solutions to problems instead of dwelling on issues.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

8. Emmanuel is very good at pointing out things that aren’t working but doesn’t make an effort to offer ideas for how to fix them.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

9. Isabel has been described by coworkers as antagonistic because she finds a way to turn any discussion into a dispute.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

10. Kendrick looks down toward the ground or runs in the other direction whenever he passes by colleagues in the hallway.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

11. All of Xuan’s subordinates view her as a very approachable manager.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

12. Lamar is willing to stand his ground when he feels strongly about an issue.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

13. People generally don’t like having Dean in department meetings because he seems to disagree in discussions purely for the sake of disagreeing.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

14. Austin often says provocative things under his breath, just loud enough so that some of his coworkers hear it and get upset about it.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

15. Jackie has an axe to grind with Milo from way back. This is obvious any time there’s an issue at work and Jackie finds a way to spin it as being Milo’s fault.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude 

16. Alejandra will grumble about something she’s unhappy with at work for as long as it takes to get people to acknowledge her.

  (Click to select)   Porcupine   Entangler   Debater   Complainer   Blamer   Stink bomb thrower   Does not represent a bad attitude