THE GROWING TREND OF “TIDAK APA” OR “WHO CARES” ATTITUDES

Have you ever wondered the reasons behind the failure of a company or community? I have been pondering on this question for some time and decided to do some personal researches on the cause and effect of human attitudes towards the success or failure of a company or community. The result was astounding. It basically goes down to one major problem – the “tidak apa” or “who cares” attitudes of the employees.

It has already been hard to get dedicated and committed employees in a company and it takes just a few persons with the “infectious disease” to slowly erode those with good efforts. One very obvious indication is that those employees will always be in boredom and anger when given a task to perform. Teamwork does not exist in their vocabulary. Once you noticed the subtle slide in your company performance, it is time to reverse the effect with immediate actions. Here are some points for your knowledge.

FIND A GOOD TEAM LEADER
In every successful business or community, there is a leader who is influential enough to push the rest of the workers to strive for the best. It does not necessary be the manager but someone who is charismatic enough to lead the team.

COMMUNICATION
With the team leader in place, teamwork amongst the staff would be next in the agenda. Interaction is very important. No ideas and suggestions thrown in are worthless. Brainstorm each and every one of the ideas and discuss as a team the practicality of each idea and apply them if found to be appropriate.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning is important in every business. Find out all the short term as well as long term plans that are beneficial towards the goals of the company. Goals such as better customer service and support are some of the few that should not be ignored.

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS
What is S.W.O.T.? It means Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. By understanding this principle, you will know who is better in whatever field in the company to assist in grabbing the opportunities in the market and how to promote better sales when there are competitors around.

TEAM RULES
A successful team will always have a set of written rules as guideline to perform their task. This will eradicate any disputes that may arise when someone breaks the rules. You might consider having transparencies within the team to have open discussions on any problems faced rather than creating gossips and backstabbing within the team.

BE SUPPORTIVE
It is not easy to get a team that has no clashes in opinions and conflicts. This is the time when the leader has to be supportive in settling conflicts amongst team members for the team’s future. There should always be sincere listening, accepting or rejecting and compromise when faced with any disputes.

CREATIVITY AND RISK-TAKING
People learn and grow from their mistakes. Even the greatest inventions were the products of many failures. By stopping and blaming all on an individual will stop him from being creative. This is a risk you have to take. Troubleshoot the failure as a team. Find out more on the reasons of the failures and rectify them. After one or many attempts, you will eventually succeed in getting the best product in the market.

POSITIVE APPROACH AND CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
Would you agree that no one would want to make mistakes or get rejected by others? I will always think that pinpointing the mistakes of an individual in front of a team is humiliating. Use a positive approach when someone made a mistake such a “Hey, don’t worry about the mistakes. Try harder next time.” or “I believe that you can do better next time.” With this positive approach, it will foster a better working relationship by having the members giving better and constructive feedback to improve the business. After all, each member will want to be part of the team that recognized their strengths to help the weaknesses of any tasks.

MOTIVATION
Never short of appreciation and recognition when someone or all performed greatly. It does not necessary be of monetary value. It could just be a trip or a small gathering for the members and their families. If you are not sure, throw it to the crowd. They would be more than happy to give you many wonderful suggestions.

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
Nowadays, people do not like the idea of “Do what I say and not what I do.” Some of them might have enough of that during their childhood days when they have to follow only the orders of their parents and nothing else. In fact, they will follow what you do. Setting a good example will eventually help in improving the quality of a working environment. How are you going to punish anyone for being late when you do that very often? Have the initiative of doing more than you are expected, helping those in need and be supportive and positive in your approach and you will be the role model of your team.

Remember this. An empowered team will make things happen. An empowered team can do what others thought was impossible. An empowered team is what makes your company grow!