Rich Hill, a fine organizational development consultant from Gabriel Consulting Group in Geneva, Illinois, introduced me to the concept of attitudes in the workplace. He would ask where we stood on the hierarchy of being a Generator, a Good Soldier, Grudgingly Compliant, Actively Resistant or Resigned. The Generators are proactive, leading the direction of the company. The Good Soldiers are participative and help get things done. The Grudgingly Compliant are slow to adapt, the actively Resistant are disruptive and the resigned just go through the motions.
This hierarchy can be a helpful tool for those who honestly assess their attitudes at work and can identify a higher role to which they aspire.
I’ve also discovered a counter-intuitive insight. When looking for those who can make the most significant contributions to an organization, a surprisingly strong candidate is often the Actively Resistant. By being actively resistant, at least there is the passion and emotion of a Generator. The challenge for the leader, then, is to listen to the Actively Resistant, consider their objections and use them to strengthen the organization. When I lead teams through planning, I encourage them to invite the naysayers, because they can make the plan stronger with their different perspectives and provide the passion to generate new thinking.
What insights do you get from this hierarchy of attitudes?
I recently did a presentation on how your Attitude determines your Altitude, because this is a continuing effort I became very engrossed in the “Hierarchy of Attitudes in the Workplace” helpful tool above (Resigned, Actively Resistant, Grudgingly Compliant, Good Soldier, & Generator) . I was interested in using this as a hand out and was curious to know if you offered these at price value for quantity of 100 or more ??