Deal with negativity in the workplace

Deal with negativity in the workplace

Article Type: How to ... From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 13, Issue 4/5

Practical advice for HR professionals

Suzanne Hazelton

Negativity in the workplace; what’s all the fuss about? Negativity is often the silent killer of innovation, culture and well-being. All emotions are contagious, and negativity can spread all too quickly through teams, departments and even whole organizations, which is why it is our responsibility to take action. I will give you five tips to deal with negativity so that you increase your immunity to this toxic emotion, which will help create a better workplace for everyone.

The UK Health and Safety Executive suggest work-related stress develops when a person is unable to cope with the demands being placed on them. When you do not know how to deal with negativity and can not “escape” the tirade, you are likely to experience stress. No matter how senior or junior you are, the good news is that there are things you can do to respond to negativity, and here are some of them:

1. Look in the mirror

Take a look at your own words and actions to ensure that you are not the cause of other people’s negativity.

Most of us would not describe ourselves as negative, or think that we are spreading negativity in the workplace. However, when we describe ourselves as a “realist”, a “pragmatist” or say something like “it’s a constructive comment”, too often, we can be the source of negativity.

One antidote, to give balance to your comments, is to deliberately look for more opportunities to give praise – see number 5 for more information.

2. Have an explicit structure for meetings

Negativity or cynical comments can extinguish or dampen the creative flame. Therefore, when running more creative meetings, be explicit about acceptable behavior and comments and have a structure for the meeting. Essentially separate the idea generation phase from evaluation and critique phases. More formal approaches for meeting structure exist, whether it’s the Disney Strategy (Hazelton, 2012) or de Bono’s (2000) thinking hats.

Having an explicit structure makes it easier to keep everyone focused on idea generation rather than critique. If critiques surfaces at an inappropriate time, these valuable but potentially crushing comments can be deferred until later in the meeting. That way, everyone knows their contribution will be considered at the appropriate stage.

3. Unhook the meaning we give to negativity

Sometimes when we experience negativity, we jump to (unconscious) conclusions about what it means to us. We respond, not to the negativity itself, but to the meaning we have attributed to it. Negativity can mean different things to different people; for example, that they are not liked or are no good at their job, or that those expressing the negativity are themselves inept.

These inferred meanings can unwittingly drive our behavior. The antidote is to slow down, take a deep breath, and check your own thought patterns. See if the meanings you have attributed are really valid. You can then respond from awareness rather than a knee-jerk reaction.

4. Build a reservoir of positive emotions

Academic research by Fredrickson (2001) demonstrated that positive emotions enable us to “broaden and build”. There is a twofold benefit: we broaden the options that we see and build our resilience.

Negative has more impact than positive (whether in emotions or selling newspapers). To flourish, we need at least three positive emotions for each negative (Fredrickson, 2013). When we’re on the receiving end of negativity, looking for joy in our life can sometimes feel like a step too far. However, the effort is well worth it because positive emotions have been proven to enhance our well-being. Stated another way, we are not happy just because we are flourishing, but happiness drives us to flourish.

Most of us know what makes us smile. The trick is to bring this knowledge into the workplace, from going for a short walk – even just down the corridor – or taking a conscious moment of gratitude, through to a random kindness, whether to a co-worker, family member or a total stranger.

5. Become a beacon of encouragement

Catch someone doing something well, and make a positive comment (Gable et al., 2004). This is something that we can all embrace. Not only will you feel good, you will be spreading smiles round the workplace – you will be creating a positive environment in which to work – which is good for innovation and well-being.

Someone else’s negativity does not have to get you down. For your organization to remain innovative, have a positive culture and support individual (and company) well-being, it is essential that we all learn how to build our own stores of positive emotions.

References

de Bono, E. (2000), Six Thinking Hats, Rev ed., Penguin, London.

Fredrickson, B.L. (2001), “The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions”, American Psychologist, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 218-226.

Fredrickson, B.L. (2013), “Updated thinking on positivity ratios”, American Psychologist, Vol. 68 No. 9.

Gable, S.L., Reis, H.T., Impett, E.A. and Asher, E.R. (2004), “What do you do when things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive events”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 87 No. 2, pp. 228-245.

Hazelton, S. (2012), Raise Your Game: How to Build on Your Successes to Achieve Transformational Results, Ecademy Press.

Health and Safety Executive, “Work related stress”, available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/furtheradvice/wrs.htm

About the author

Suzanne Hazelton is a positive psychologist, leadership coach and speaker and the author of Great Days at Work (Kogan Page). She is qualified in many different approaches to bring out the best in others. These include advanced training in psychotherapy (Transactional Analysis), NLP (MPract), MBTI, Firo-B and most recently a Masters degree in Positive Psychology, the science of well-being, happiness and motivation. She has 10 years’ experience of training and coaching, initially within IBM, and more recently independently. Suzanne Hazelton is based at Johnson Fellowes Ltd., Camberley, UK. She can be contacted at: mailto:Suzanne@TheBusinessOfChange.co.uk