Over the holidays, my brother and I fell into a serious discussion about the challenges of people management. He works in the auto auction business, which is a pretty far stretch from the agency world, but he has many of the same challenges, especially when it comes to staff.

He was particularly frustrated by some employees that left work early in the afternoon to go to a bar/restaurant, leaving work undone and customers without service. “Why don’t people feel accountable?” he asked.

I guess I’m not sure.

I’m excited to come to the office every day and face whatever challenges are in front of me. I love to work. I’m excited about the company I work for. I appreciate the nuances of each client and each day.  I wish everyone could feel like that, but I understand that some don’t.

Many times, the solution boils down to better communication and better attitudes. Management can communicate better by keeping everyone informed on critical issues, delivering frequent team updates, conducting open-forum activities, etc.

Better attitudes? Well, that’s entirely up to the individual.

I had the privilege of working five years at a business software company with Doug Burgum, a talented businessman and successful leader in his industry. At the first company meeting I attended, he said something like this: If you don’t like it here, leave. If you spend most of your day complaining about your job, find something else to do.

He frequently talked about this, and the point was, only you can do something about your work situation if it’s not what you want. That’s the ultimate in accountability, isn’t it?

He wasn’t trying to be trite or mean or even accusatory. The philosophy is simple. If you can’t do your best work here, find a place where you can. I think this is a powerful message, but people never really see it in themselves.

At Flint, we have posters throughout our office that say “Be the person you want to work with.” Most of us think a little differently: everyone else should work like me.

We form teams with different personalities and talents. We have to keep that in mind as we look around at the people we work with. Different people, naturally, work differently.

• Maybe someone you find difficult to work with will bring a fresh perspective to a problem.
• Maybe the person who barely speaks in a group setting has brilliant ideas if you let him or her write them down on paper first.

If you’re open to other points of view, if you try to help instead of criticize, and if you try being the person you want to work with, others might follow your example. Even if your job isn’t your passion, you can still make the most of it by having a good attitude, and being grateful to have a job in such a tough economic climate.