Well, face it. One of the greatest issues dealing with employees and employers is attitude. Not just any attitude, but an attitude of negativity or non appreciation. Whether you are a manager, upper level management, CEO, or owner, how you treat people, and in this discussion, employees is whether your business will run well and have healthy interpersonal relationships and a cohesive team, or whether you will experience discontent, non cooperation, as well as an arena of no trust.

Actually, having a negative attitude and showing no appreciation for those who work with or for you is a common problem today that affects businesses in every situation. If you want to change the direction of your business or team, then you need to change how you treat the people on your team or in your business. Way too often we place a plaque on the wall or a statement in employee handbooks that we value our employees, however our actions speak much louder than the words we write.

Do the people that you work with know that you value them and appreciate who they are and what they do? You see, they do not care about your issues and problems. That is not the most important thing to them. They want to be valued for who they are and appreciated for whom they are. They want to know that you appreciate them. That is the greatest need and desire that people have today.

It is important that managers and employers realize that. If we start appreciating, not just using the people who work for us, then our lives and our work environments would be more harmonious and more productive.

When was the last time you said a kind word to those you work with? When was the last time you thought hard and long before critiquing negatively or saying the wrong thing? People need to be uplifted, treated fairly, appreciated with genuine words of encouragement instead of demeaning, talking down, and having unreasonable expectations.

Do the people you work with know you value their opinion, or are they resigned that no matter what you say your words and actions tell them differently?

There are several actions you can do to increase the morale of your workplace.

1. Do not think you know it all. Seek out and value the opinions of those you work with and take their suggestions with more than a grain of salt.

2. Place people around you that are better than you at what they do and then appreciate the kind of people you are working with.

3. Never speak negatively about or to the person you work with. There are many ways to see a change in actions by putting yourself in their situation and then making suggestions that would speak to them and not demean them.

4. Realize that all of us have a need to be valued, including yourself. But you will never be valued by others until you value them.

5. Remind them in a hundred different ways how much you appreciate them and their efforts.

6. See the need for a team effort and reward the team for successes and refrain from criticizing unnecessarily for team failures. Use those times for readjustment and encouragement for future success.

Would you like to see your department or business flourish and grow? Watch what you say, how you say it and how you appreciate those you depend so much on. Do not expect them to change until you change your attitude. You see, an attitude of gratitude will go a very long ways toward growing your business.

It will attract great employees, loyal customers and satisfied investors. It will mean that your life will be happier, healthier and you will feel better about you.

Paul Donihue is CEO of a national custom business solutions company and a business success development consultant. He is a published author both on the internet and in print form. His book, "11 Ways To KILL Your Business...And The Keys To Save It!" can be purchased at His main websites are and This article may be reproduced as long as the authorship by Paul Donihue and his website references are not changed nor deleted.