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FROM: NOV-DEC 2009 ISSUE | BY MERGE GUPTA-SUNDERJI
Negative people … they’re in every workplace. You know who they are. They never have anything good to say about anything or anyone. They languish around the office. They are victims in a world that is conspiring against them. And lest you fail to notice, they are quick to point out why something won’t work. But worst of all: their sour attitudes bring the rest of the workplace down.
It’s this contagious and toxic nature of negativity that creates havoc in workplaces and causes untold grief for managers and supervisors. The effect negative people have in a workplace is akin to adding a few drops of coffee to a glass of clear water. Within minutes, the drops of coffee swirl and spread through the water and immediately cloud and darken the mixture. Just a few negative people can dampen team morale and productivity. So what can you do about it?
Let’s start with how you can resist the toxic nature of negativity. This is critical because you can’t expect to overcome negativity in others if you’re susceptible to it yourself. And the antibiotic to the negativity toxin: a positive attitude! As obvious as this is, most people don’t consciously nurture positivity and quickly succumb to the negativity around them.
A positive attitude is something that must be cultivated – the seeds planted, watered, given sufficient light and nutrients, protected from predators and diseases, and allowed to grow and flower. This requires monitoring and effort on your part. Recognize that your attitude is a choice you make every single day. When bad things happen (and they will), it’s up to you to decide how to respond. Will you nurture a “can-do” attitude, or will you curl up and bemoan that the world is conspiring against you?
Have the courage to speak up and challenge existing beliefs. When coworkers use extreme words such as “always” and “never,” question them. When John says “there’s no point in saying anything, we’re never listened to,” stop him and ask: “John, what do you mean by ‘never’? The last time our team offered a suggestion to Accounts Payable, they changed their procedures.”
Negative people often use extreme words in their conversations for emphasis and impact. Once you have deliberately inoculated yourself from negativity, you can focus on overcoming negativity in others. Here are four ideas to get you started.
First, feed the grapevine. Gossip is one of the most common tactics used by negative people, and many managers think that the best way to deal with gossip is to ignore it. Wrong. Instead, become part of it.
Communicate more rather than less. The company grapevine or rumour mill is one of the most efficient forms of communication in an organization. Instead of getting frustrated by the gossip-mongering, feed the grapevine with information. When you offer truthful information, it will counteract the negative gossip that normally thrives in the grapevine.
Second, let people talk. Create forums for people to express their opinions about workplace policies and procedures. Provide timely responses to questions and concerns. When you let people discuss issues with each other you’ll find that negativity will decrease.
Third, listen. Sometimes people just want a sounding board, a place to be respectfully listened to. Be visible, proactively schedule group discussions or town hall meetings, and provide responses to questions and concerns.
Finally, when you do communicate, be inclusive. Give people the same information at the same time. You may inadvertently give different information to some people at different points in time, but that provides fodder for the gossip mill and contributes to negativity.
While these ideas are not exhaustive, they should give you food for thought to get you going. Negativity can be conquered, and it starts with you.
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