The Right Attitude
The Right Attitude is an applied exercise in which participants practice reframing the same situation through multiple emotional or attitudinal lenses, discovering how the chosen attitude changes perceived options, energy, and outcomes. The exercise builds the habit of deliberate attitude selection as a professional skill.
Structure
The Situation
The facilitator presents a challenging workplace or interpersonal scenario: a project setback, a difficult colleague, an unwanted assignment, or a failed initiative.
The Attitudes
Participants are given three attitudinal frames to inhabit sequentially: resentment, resignation, and genuine curiosity. Each frame is adopted fully for one to two minutes.
The Response
From each attitudinal position, participants describe what they notice about the situation, what options they see, and what their next action would be. They may speak, write, or move through the space.
The Reflection
After moving through all three frames, participants compare what each attitude made visible and invisible. The debrief connects attitude selection to professional effectiveness.
How to Teach It
Objectives
The Right Attitude makes attitude selection a visible and deliberate practice rather than a passive response. Participants discover that the attitude they bring to a situation determines what they can perceive and what actions become available.
Facilitation Notes
Encourage full physical commitment to each frame, not just a verbal description of it. Moving through the space in resentment and then in genuine curiosity makes the difference more visceral and memorable.
Common Pitfalls
Participants sometimes treat the frames as abstract analysis rather than embodied states. The exercise asks for physical inhabitation of each attitude, not commentary on it.
In Applied Settings
Resilience and Change Management
The Right Attitude is used in organizational change programs to build the capacity to choose a productive orientation when circumstances are not ideal. The exercise demonstrates that attitude is not automatic.
Leadership Development
Managers practice identifying the attitude they are modeling in difficult situations and deliberately choosing the frame that will best serve their team and their objectives.
Coaching and Performance Programs
Facilitators use the exercise to break the assumption that attitude is fixed, giving participants a practical tool for reorienting in real time.
Skills Developed
Worth Reading
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Motivation
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The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from The Right Attitude.
Business Improv (Gee & Gee)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). The Right Attitude. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-right-attitude
The Improv Archive. "The Right Attitude." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-right-attitude.
The Improv Archive. "The Right Attitude." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-right-attitude. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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