What does a bad mood doom? (Mood spelled backwards is doom.) What are the hidden costs of a bad mood? And why should you even care about moodiness? This is why: 10% of workers in our workforce have a bad mood day, almost every day. Just as the aftereffects of a hurricane can continue to cause increasing obstacles after the winds have subsided and the waters have receded, a bad mood escalates problems while reducing profits in dozens of drastic ways which can result even after the bad mood has abated.
A BAD MOOD BRINGS CRASHING TO THE GROUND…
One Talk Group Exercise I use in Talk2Me© leadership development classes is called “I’m Having a Bad Day!” which gets at the severe loss of productivity – a reality of 40% loss of productivity – for everyone. (One bad apple or rotten orange does spoil the whole basket, as you know.)
Lucky Class #13 communicators, who are lighting the way ahead, brainstormed these costs of a bummer mood…
• Profits go down
• Trust and respect are lost
• Communication stinks and sinks the ship of your dreams
• Morale gets busted and teamwork plummets
• Your company winds up needing a tow truck to get out of a ditch
• Attitude crashes to the ground
• Enthusiasm is lost
• Professional image is smudged with the red paint of anger
• Others’ moods come crashing down to the ground
• Opportunities fly right out the window
• Customers don’t come back
• Safety is compromised
• Productivity is depressed
• Customer satisfaction scores flunk you
• Reputation is compromised
• Personal values are sold for quick gold
• Decision-making ability is shredded
• You are driving under the influence of a negative attitude
• “Off your toes” or “Your game falls off”
• Relationships end
• No focus on the target means missed goals
• Quality is pricked
• Opportunity avoids you
• Compassionate people are alienated
DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO TELL ANOTHER PERSON THAT THEIR BAD MOOD IS BAD?
Mood dictates reputation. People often don’t have the courage to tell you that you’re a Bad News Bear. Who wants to have a bad mood dumped on them like a truckload of manure or rotten tomatoes? Do you like to get positive results? Then get control of your mood, man! Are you getting the results you want in your relationship life? Or is your reputation that of a Bad News Bear, wearing a prickly, cold, and wet wool coat and an anchor of guilt around your neck, who always drowns positive people around you, in an Olympic-size pool of your pity?
IF THE BOSS DOESN’T CONFRONT A BAD MOOD, THEN WHO SHOULD?
If the boss doesn’t confront a worker who has a bad attitude, day in and day out, then who should? Worse yet, if the boss has a bad mood day every day, then what message does that send to your internal and external customers? Essentially it says: “I’m not interested in profiting from my partnership with you. Go away and stay away, while I complain about my bad luck and why I know you’re all-ways the one at fault for my lack of happiness!”
ARE YOU IN THE HORSE AND BUGGY ERA OF CUSTOMER AND LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION?
Are you in the horse and buggy era of communication, with an oil lamp on front of your buggy to light the way? Or are you in the automotive era with your high performance headlamps burning bright? The Talk2Me© system lights the way ahead, turning on the floodlights as the dark of night approaches.
Morale of this Talk Story: Good communication not only eclipses a bad mood, it also lights the way to profits, while bad communication puts a bad mood in the limelight and darkens your day with losses.
ABOUT “TALK DOC” DENNIS O’GRADY, Psy.D.
Dennis delivers TALK2ME © Effective Communication executive, management and supervisory workshops which provide a Communication Toolbox full of positive communication tools to set people up for success. TALK2ME: Communication Moves to Get Along With Anyone, received the 2008 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal. New Insights Communication: (937) 428-0724.