Attitude, Skill, Knowledge - The Formula for Success
Attitude, skill and knowledge, all the three elements put together form a success formula. It is a well-known fact that any person with a remarkable blend of all the above mentioned 3 characteristics will come out as a human being with lots of intelligence, leadership qualities and mentoring abilities. But, the question is, can any one of these attributes stand alone and guide a person to the zenith? The answer is probably NO.
As, we all know and understand that in the present era of competitiveness and naivety every individual is expected to be skilful, knowledgeable and also must possess a correct set of attitude which is universally acceptable. A person with only a bucket full of skills required to complete a task with a very less amount of knowledge on the subject and probably with a poor attitude cannot be considered useful for an organization for the long run.
Image: pixabay
‘’If you don’t have skills, it can be acquired. If you don’t have knowledge, it can be gained. But, if you don’t have attitude, you are in trouble.’’ Attitude, in a general sense is taken negatively. The dictionary meaning of Attitude also says, ‘’ a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways’’. But, Is Attitude always a Complex mental state or can it be understood in a positive sense? Attitude, in simple terms can be any individual’s way of perceiving and understanding things. This perception towards any situation or individual can again vary from person to person and can also be negative and positive.
Attitude and Arrogance – A thin line in between:
Attitude always has two faces, a Declining or Negative one and an Inclining or Progressive or a Positive one. Positive attitudes are often favourable because they lead to desirable outputs for the organization and are related often with positive attributes like Job Satisfaction, employee retention, knowledge building, organization development etc. On the other hand, a declining attitude is not only negative but in a sense poisonous for the organization as it gives birth to ailments like spoiled organizational culture, reduced productivity, poor performance, high attrition rates etc. A highly skilled labour with handful of knowledge in the domain of work with a poor and declining attitude would invest his time and energy in finding the problems at the work and would always deviate away from the solutions, thereby creating an environment of dissatisfaction in and around him which will contaminate his organizational habitat. A person with a declining attitude will have loads of ego which will eventually stop him from learning, coordinating, supporting and even contributing towards a common organizational goal. It is often observed that such people take their attitude as a shield to protect them from taking responsibilities of their failures and tend to behave arrogantly when exposed open. Attitude if not carried in a proper manner can be presented to the world as arrogance which can’t be excused, particularly in a business environment.
Attitude – A Catalyst to learn and do creative things:
Learning, as believed and said often is something which demands passion and perseverance. Any person whether in work on in studies can make himself devoted to learning only if he or she has a passion to learn new things and is determined towards it. There are large numbers of avenues available for any individual to learn and improve, let it be on social terms, technical terms, interpersonal terms or even psychological terms. Any individual with a positive approach and attitude will always find out solutions for every problem which he or she encounters in the way of learning and will emerge out more knowledgeable by acquiring the targeted skills and knowledge. Creativity is one attribute which is being saluted and appreciated always. In this modern era of competition where human brains produce new ideas every day and only such brains become the leaders and mentors who show the path of development to the society and nation as a whole. An individual with a go-getter attitude can always be self-motivated with enough perseverance to make the impossible also possible. Creative employees who are eager to learn and risk themselves to doing new things regularly are often encouraged by the organizations for mutual growth.
Attitude – A Ladder to help your self-esteem climb new heights:
Confidence is an outcome of achievements and subsequent appreciations followed by each achievement. No individual can keep himself or herself untouched with the glamour of appreciation and rewards. Every appreciation actually adds on to individual’s confidence and helps his self-esteem to boost up. People keep growing by doing great jobs and tasks, but at some point of time the attitude turns bitter and the growth curve takes a downward slope. This situation is alarming and needs immediate correction. Attitude can contribute very positively to one’s self-esteem and can help people reach zenith of success but at the same time if not handled properly the attitude can turn negative and can pull down the individual drastically. Great achievements are often results of high confidence combined with lots of hard work, positive work and self-motivation, however, absence of any of these elements can leave the results not as desired. When it comes to an organizational environment, such employees carry huge self-esteem which make them natural leaders in their respective area of work and they become highly respectable amongst their subordinates, seniors and peer group.
Attitude – Makes you stand tall and unique:
‘’People laughed at me, because I was not like them, I was proud that I was different’’, as the statement rightly describes that people who are different are generally not accepted by the common crowd but at the same time on a positive note, the individual is different and stands out tall in the crowd with unique attributes. This is the attitude which every individual must carry which will eventually motivate the individual and will always push to do things out of league and helps in being innovative. That’s the affect attitude can have on any individual. We have got cases when people who thought and acted out of the box have tasted success and created history in various fields. We have seen numerous examples of people who come from a very humble background with absolutely no resources available to them and have made a mark in various fields of art, music, education, politics, sports, science etc. It’s only the attitude which motivates people to analyse things in a different way and take risks to try newer things and carve a niche for themselves even in adverse conditions.
Attitude – An ongoing approach:
We are in an era of continuous improvement wherein we are expected to keep our updated on every aspect of life, be it the individual skills, technical skills or even social skills. With the growing impact of digitization in our lives, we always run a risk of falling behind in the race and getting obsolete. So, the need of the hour is to learn, learn more and learn continuously. Once again attitude comes into picture and plays an important role. An attitude which never let you rest and keeps you on your toes is needed, so as to help you in rubbing shoulders with the best people in the respective fields. It’s a general tendency of human to get complacent after achievements and a relaxation syndrome hops up. An attitude which keeps telling one’s conscience to get up and re-start the journey to improve and learn new things and continuously force to work in search of newer and greener pastures is required. Attitude is an ongoing approach and should act as a catalyst and refresher always.
Attitude, Skill and Knowledge are important components which makes a successful personality. Skill and knowledge are something which can always be learnt in classrooms but attitude is something which is within and needs to be developed by an individual himself/herself. A person with a perfect mix of Attitude, Skill and Knowledge is always on the right path and is all set to achieve success.
This article has been authored by D Surya Prakash from Lotus Business School
