Please do not look for new colleagues with a “can do” attitude
Telling phrases, part 2
Throughout my work life, I have developed an allergy against certain words or phrases. Out of this collection, people with a “can do” attitude was one for which I fell myself for a long time. People told me that I had it. Of course I liked hearing this. Nevertheless, nowadays I do not like this expression anymore and consider it a bad sign.
Why is this so bad?
This basically follows the belief that many people display a “can’t do” attitude. Therefore, you need to look for the “special ones”.
This itself shows that people do not know “Theory X and Theory Y” which are already two generations old. Most people are self-motivated! If this does not come out, check the environment, especially the incentives and whether people understand the “Why” behind their work.
This is opposed to the view that people either “have it” or “do not have it” and that there is nothing you can do about it (in other words, a fixed mindset).
In reality, this says more about the workplace than about the employees: “It takes a specific attitude to get stuff done and we assume that by default, people do not show it.”
This is also very similar to assuming that people will drop everything once their duty is done. In other words, you do not trust your own people.
What kind of workplace would inspire this behavior? Would you like to work in such a company?
If you think that you see many people displaying a “can’t do” attitude, before making them responsible, make sure they are working in an “allowed to” environment.
The Beatles: We Can Work It Out
