Negativity often occurs when people are impacted by decisions and issues that are out of their control. Examples of these include: corporation downsizing; understaffing that requires people to work mandatory overtime; budget reductions; and upper-management decisions that adversely impact members of your staff.
Under these circumstances, try some of the following ideas.
- Identify any aspects of the situation that you can impact including providing feedback in your organization about the negative impact that is occurring. (Sometimes decisions are made and no one understands or predicts their outcome. Sometimes you can influence an issue or a decision if you practice personal, professional courage and speak your mind.
- Listen, listen, listen. Often people just need a sounding board. Be visible and available to staff. Proactively schedule group discussion sessions, town meetings, "lunches with the manager," or one-on-one blocks of time.
- Challenge pessimistic thinking and negative beliefs about people, the company, and the work area. Don't let negative, false statements go unchallenged.If the statements are true, provide the rationale, the corporate thinking, and the events that are responsible for the negative circumstances. Share everything you know about a situation to build trust with the workforce.
- Ask open-ended questions to determine the cause, and the scope of the negative feelings or reaction. Maybe it's not as bad as people think; maybe their interpretation of events is faulty. Helping people identify exactly what they feel negatively about is the first step in solving the problem. You can't solve a fog of unhappiness. Help people create options, feel included, and feel part of the communication and problem solving. (Do all of the items mentioned in Tips for Minimizing Workplace Negativity.)
- Recognize that, sometimes, a negative outlook may be appropriate.
Interested in knowing what to do if the problem is a negative person? What's your role in negativity?
