Consider the following scenario…

Rhonda was a highly competent professional hired at a company to run their training department. With her “new set of eyes,” she saw areas for improvement within their HR department and leadership roles. Even though she had set up a successful leadership training program, she grew increasingly frustrated with the HR department and upper management’s hesitancy to look at developing some strategic plans. Rhonda started alienating herself from HR and a few supervisors due to her comments and apparent frustrations. She left the company after two years even though she liked her job, its responsibilities, and the flexibility it offered that allowed her to be with her family.

What happened with Rhonda? Did she expect too much too soon? Did she not develop trust?

How do you interact with other people in your professional life? Have you ever walked away from a conversation with someone and said to yourself, “I just don’t understand that person”?

It is natural for us to have moments in our lives when we question our ability to effectively interact with others. Relationships can be complicated. We may hurt ourselves more by hanging onto moodiness, loss of confidence, resentment, anger, and other distress, ultimately victimizing ourselves in the following ways:

• We refuse to correct mistakes because our egos get in the way.

• We let others get under our skin.

• We focus blame on others.

• We permit our emotions to go unchecked.

• We replay a conflict in our mind and hold a grudge.

Here are actions to move out of the victim role:

• If the relationship is important to you, ask, “What will it take to repair it?”

• Take time to self-reflect about your intentions.

• Ask yourself, “Is my perception of this situation wrong?”

• Give the other person the benefit of the doubt.

• Forgive quickly, and move on.

Positive attitudes in the workplace are significant in setting the culture in the following ways:

• Productivity: Improved attitudes in the workplace will help employees become more interested in their job performance.

• Teamwork: Arindam Nag sums up the benefit of teamwork perfectly: “A positive attitude helps employees to appreciate each other achieving common objectives instead of being overly perturbed by inadequacies of team members.”

• Motivation: When an employee feels motivated at work, they will want to share that motivation with others.

• Interpersonal Relationships: When an employee displays a positive attitude toward customers, it gives customers an inside look into how organizations work together.

Maybe Rhonda would still have the job she liked and flexibility with her family if she had given HR a second chance.