This week we debut our premiere issue of Attitude Digest, a quarterly magazine about attitude enrichment, employee motivation, and team building. We created Attitude Digest for managers and business executives who want to motivate employees and increase chances of success in the workplace, relationships, and life.

What makes Attitude Digest unique? The magazine is published in an “A.D.D.-friendly” format. Which means it is highly approachable and streamlined, designed to be easily digested in bits and pieces with short, entertaining articles, brief reviews, and bulleted main ideas. Attitude Digest editor, Jocelyn Godfrey, has 12 years of experience contributing to national magazines, ghostwriting and book editing.

You can subscribe right now to Attitude Digest http://www.everythingattitude.com/store.magazine.html.for $59.00. The first 1500 subscribers will also receive my latest book, “Who Put a Lizard in My Lasagna,” and a motivational video/DVD (a $99 value).

Ivan Misner, over at Networking Now blog (on the Entrepreneur.com blog network), has an interesting post today about solutions-focused attitudes. Too many folks in this world, says Misner, have a problem-focused attitude, which invites resistance and stunts growth.

Do you have a problem-focused attitude or a solutions-focused attitude?

People with Problem-Focused Attitudes focus on:

• What’s wrong
• What needs fixing
• Blame
• Control
• The past
• Deficits and weaknesses
• Complications
• Definitions

People with Solutions-Focused Attitudes focus on:

• What’s wanted
• What’s working
• Progress
• Influence
• Collaboration
• Resources and strengths
• Simplicity
• Actions

In business, executives are trained to problem solve. Think about all the problem-solving tools they use: cause and effect diagrams, flow charts, risk analysis, USP analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, systems diagrams, even SWOT analysis. Business literature has long suggested that problem-solving ability is one of the four-dimensions of leadership. But executives could greatly benefit from being more solutions-focused. All it takes is a little reframing. Instead of asking “why didn’t we hit our targets?” they could ask “what do we need to do next time to hit our targets?”

Solutions-focused executives are better able to create lizard experiences at work. What’s a lizard experience? It starts by using the best of who you are to create the best of what you want. You focus on what you want instead of the negatives. You focus on your assets, your opportunities, your strengths, your resources, your attitude. The more lizard experiences you create with your team and for your customers or clients, the more business you will generate. The more your sales and profits will soar. Your company’s bottom line will increase, turnover will decrease, and your employees will become more connected and passionate.

The next time you find yourself focused on problems and how to fix things, step back and ask yourself if you need a solutions-focused attitude adjustment.

This week as I was traveling, I picked up an issue of Fast Company to read on the plane ride. I came across an article titled “The Power of the Prize.” It caught my attention because I love contests - as evidenced by my upcoming “2008 Best Attitude of the Year” Contest.

The article outlined new research that suggests that companies can use contests to help spur business innovation and R&D. Most of the examples in the article were about “externally broadcast contests” – contests that tapped into customers and asked them to help create unexpected, workable business solutions. Alan Lewis, who runs internal and external developer contests at eBay, is quoted in the article as saying “…the top things (you get from external contests) are going to be higher quality than what you’d get if you say to employees, ‘You’re responsible for five innovative ideas a quarter.”

Hogwash. While I agree that contests can be great ways to create positive customer experiences and help generate unexpected ideas, I don’t agree that the best innovation lies outside your company. If it does you are failing to effectively lead your team. And I’m not alone. “I’m Not Actually A Geek” blog agrees with me in this post suggesting ways that companies could better maximize innovation from the inside-out.

It isn’t easy. You have to roll up your sleeves and apply a little elbow grease to inspire internal innovation among your employees. But if you kick in your team’s attitude, you can inspire exceptional innovation. Your team will have your back. And internal contests can be used for team building, employee morale, and sparking creativity. There are many companies out there doing it…

- Pelican Products, a firm specializing in watertight protective cases, held an internal contest by which factory workers win points and earn prizes for maintaining certain levels of productivity, enforcing safety procedures and meeting other criteria. The company made sure that the prizes were items that the employees actually wanted to win! Quite the concept! The result? Decrease in both its workers compensation and employee turnover.

- Even large corporations are getting involved with their employees. On April 17, McDonald’s hosted its Voice of McDonald’s II, an employee singing contest. While singing may be appear in the average McDonald’s worker job description, the contest does something very unique. It celebrates the employee and puts them out for the world to see! Who doesn’t want to be celebrated?

The key takeaways? Host a contest for your employees! Some ideas? Ask employees to create a commercial and the winner gets a promotion. Or the top salesperson wins dinner and a stay at a local hotel. Use your creativity and your employees will be committed to your companies success, and more likely to deliver remarkable innovation.