"My employees have bad attitudes, and you can't fix a bad attitude..."

"My employees are lazy, and refuse to do anything above and beyound their assigned work....

"There is no way I can motivate them.  They are too far gone..."

To all of the above, I respectfully disagree.

When I was a leader at Walt Disney World, I had my share of bad employees.  Believe me, there were a few employees who were not filled with magic and pixie dust. 

As a leader, I felt it was my responsibility to get with these employees and remind them of MY expectations. 

Not the company's expectations...

Not the department's expectations...

MY expectations.

Why?

Because I wanted to build a team based on trust and respect.  You see, you can't gain trust and respect with someone if you are not clear in your communication.  With this particular bad employee, I realized that I had not shared with her my expectations. 

In the movie "ELF" with Will Farrell, he sees a sign on a diner in New York that says "World's Best Cup of Coffee!"  He rushes in and tells then congratulations.  Later, when he tastes their coffee, he knows that his expectations were not met.

For your employees, you need to make sure that your expectations are reasonable and reachable.  By doing this, you will create an culture of success instead of a culture of failure.

If you've ever attended any type of harassment training, your facilitator probably told you that "...an organizational harassment policy may go above and beyond the minimum requirements of the law."

The same rule applies here. While there may not be anything written in a job description that tells them to smile and be cordial, I have always considered that as a minimum expectation. 

Keep in mind that your employees cannot meet your expectations if you do not share your expectations with them.  Here are a few helpful hints for doing so:

• Try to be accomodating with your expectations.  It may take a week or two for this employee to make a change in behavior.  It will not happen overnight.