Article published in Progress in Lending for July 2014

Dealing With Negativity in the Workplace

Do any of these symptoms of negativity appear in your workplace through employees or even leadership? Complaining; not listening well;finding only the negative aspects of any situation; not offering solutions to problems; not seeing that someone's behavior affects others; someone attempts to create discontent in the workplace; blaming others; disrepecting others; resisting organizational change;disclosing too many personal problems; getting easily angry or upset; alienating themselves from co-workers. The list could go on and on. If these type of situations aren't addressed or changed quickly, the negativity can spread like a disease throughout an organization. There are two types of negativity - situational and chronic. Situational is linked to an event or occurrence that is impacting someone's life situation(think divorce, a death in the family,a change in a position at work, etc.) If the person is normally not a complainer or negative they can work their situation out over time, get some help or possibly leave. A chronic negative person walks around with a lot of baggage, stress, are not happy with their life, etc. This type of negativity can put a damper on the positive and productive environment of a workplace and spread like wildfire throughout the company/organization. These individuals need guidance and boundaries established between what's happening with them as a person and the work that needs to get done. It's up to management/leadership to address these situations on an individual basis. If you manage negative staff, there is a great opportunity to have a conversation with the person by asking them what's going on; sharing with them how their negativity is affecting the workplace and have them share with you what some solutions could be to address the issue. If you have allowed this negativity to fester for a long period of time, it will take a longer period of time to change behaviors. If the person is a complainer, immediately ask that person what would they do if they were in your shoes as the manager/leader? Maybe you can help them create a plan they can implement to be less negative. Asking "how can I support you?" and "who else can support you?" are great questions as well. One practice involves holding conversations on what's going on. Two sentences that can be used to help turn around the negativity are: "I know I'm being negative right now; I'm just really stressed out over _________________. I'm trying not to let it affect others." or taking responsibility for their part of a negative environment "I think I am not working at my peak - what do you think? Maybe I need to focus on________________________ until I get myself together." A manager or leader can request that the negative person create sentences like these or use them to practice instead of simply complaining. The more comfortable management can get in having regular communication on what's going and how things impact the business without someone feeling they have to defend themselves, the better. Try it or hire a coach to help change these sitatuions.

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