With teams, one or two pessimists can bring down the group
“I’m getting a lot of calls from managers saying their department just isn’t working well together,” says Louise Hartley, a specialist in organizational effectiveness.
The work environment is deteriorating but they can’t figure out why. There is an increase in general grumbling and complaining. Rumours run rampant. A polarization of employees leads to the development of cliques and in unionized settings there are a lot more grievances.
Hartley, vice-president of clinical services with Family Services Employee Assistance Programs in Toronto, says negative people are often to blame and management must act to contain or at least lessen their harmful effects.
“Negativity is like a virus that eats away at your performance and it eats away at your well-being,” she adds.
Absenteeism goes up, work progress slows and there is an increase in accidents. Turnover rates will go up and it’s usually high potential people who will leave, Hartley says.
The problem is becoming acute as more people work in teams and stress levels compound negative feelings.
It isn’t always possible to change the person. Nor should the first option be to get rid of someone. Just because they are negative doesn’t mean they are bad workers, she says. It is just another case where people have to learn to work and manage people with different styles. In this case it is best to manage their impact because negativity can spread.
Negative people often lack self-esteem or self-confidence, they don’t feel valued or are bored. Often the negative person has poor social skills. He doesn’t know how to interact with people and consequently doesn’t develop any sort of relationship with co-workers. Research has shown that people need to feel connected to at least one person at work, she says. “If someone doesn’t feel connected, they can start to complain.” Once they make that first complaint, co-workers suddenly start paying attention to them because people love gossip and in most cases, they too love to complain.
No matter how negativity manifests itself, it is critical that action be taken quickly to mitigate the harm because negative behaviours can be contagious.
First of all, don’t give people who like to complain, anything to complain about. Recognize that a lot of negative feelings spring from legitimate complaints, says Hartley. Don’t underestimate how little things like late or long meetings or unclear decision-making processes, combined with increased stress levels can provide impetus for complaints. In every workplace there is room for improvement and changes. Pay attention to employee feedback and correct inappropriate organizational norms.
After that it’s time to address the problem employee. One of the most common reactions is to try to ignore it, says Hartley. “It’s like conflict. We don’t feel comfortable with it and we haven’t had a lot of experience with it so we hope if we ignore it, it will go away.”
It seems like every team has one or two of these people, Hartley says. They are quick to complain that every new plan is destined for failure, or else they are the instigators, quietly pointing out how the little things are unfair. These are the people that are more difficult to spot and the key here is to bring any of their concerns out in the open. If the unhappy employee is suggesting someone is getting special treatment or a lighter workload, managers should ask at the next meeting how employees feel at about how they are being treated. This instantly dilutes some of the power of the secretive malcontent.
In dealing with the public complainer, two of the most common reactions only make the situation worse, says Hartley. There is the confrontational approach: “You’re one of the reasons this plan will fail.” Or else managers get defensive: “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go work somewhere else?”
Focus on correcting the behaviours not the attitude itself. It is too difficult to be precise about attitude but employers can talk about specific negative behaviours and what they mean.
Or else try to redirect those negative observations. Point out that it is useful he found some possible problems and then ask him to consider ways of overcoming them. After all a little pessimism can be a good thing, says Hartley.
“You don’t want a whole group of team members who are all optimistic and saying everything is going to work out. You want somebody who will see the stumbling blocks too.”
The work environment is deteriorating but they can’t figure out why. There is an increase in general grumbling and complaining. Rumours run rampant. A polarization of employees leads to the development of cliques and in unionized settings there are a lot more grievances.
Hartley, vice-president of clinical services with Family Services Employee Assistance Programs in Toronto, says negative people are often to blame and management must act to contain or at least lessen their harmful effects.
“Negativity is like a virus that eats away at your performance and it eats away at your well-being,” she adds.
Absenteeism goes up, work progress slows and there is an increase in accidents. Turnover rates will go up and it’s usually high potential people who will leave, Hartley says.
The problem is becoming acute as more people work in teams and stress levels compound negative feelings.
It isn’t always possible to change the person. Nor should the first option be to get rid of someone. Just because they are negative doesn’t mean they are bad workers, she says. It is just another case where people have to learn to work and manage people with different styles. In this case it is best to manage their impact because negativity can spread.
Negative people often lack self-esteem or self-confidence, they don’t feel valued or are bored. Often the negative person has poor social skills. He doesn’t know how to interact with people and consequently doesn’t develop any sort of relationship with co-workers. Research has shown that people need to feel connected to at least one person at work, she says. “If someone doesn’t feel connected, they can start to complain.” Once they make that first complaint, co-workers suddenly start paying attention to them because people love gossip and in most cases, they too love to complain.
No matter how negativity manifests itself, it is critical that action be taken quickly to mitigate the harm because negative behaviours can be contagious.
First of all, don’t give people who like to complain, anything to complain about. Recognize that a lot of negative feelings spring from legitimate complaints, says Hartley. Don’t underestimate how little things like late or long meetings or unclear decision-making processes, combined with increased stress levels can provide impetus for complaints. In every workplace there is room for improvement and changes. Pay attention to employee feedback and correct inappropriate organizational norms.
After that it’s time to address the problem employee. One of the most common reactions is to try to ignore it, says Hartley. “It’s like conflict. We don’t feel comfortable with it and we haven’t had a lot of experience with it so we hope if we ignore it, it will go away.”
It seems like every team has one or two of these people, Hartley says. They are quick to complain that every new plan is destined for failure, or else they are the instigators, quietly pointing out how the little things are unfair. These are the people that are more difficult to spot and the key here is to bring any of their concerns out in the open. If the unhappy employee is suggesting someone is getting special treatment or a lighter workload, managers should ask at the next meeting how employees feel at about how they are being treated. This instantly dilutes some of the power of the secretive malcontent.
In dealing with the public complainer, two of the most common reactions only make the situation worse, says Hartley. There is the confrontational approach: “You’re one of the reasons this plan will fail.” Or else managers get defensive: “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go work somewhere else?”
Focus on correcting the behaviours not the attitude itself. It is too difficult to be precise about attitude but employers can talk about specific negative behaviours and what they mean.
Or else try to redirect those negative observations. Point out that it is useful he found some possible problems and then ask him to consider ways of overcoming them. After all a little pessimism can be a good thing, says Hartley.
“You don’t want a whole group of team members who are all optimistic and saying everything is going to work out. You want somebody who will see the stumbling blocks too.”
