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Coping Strategies for Working with Negativists

February 25, 2003

* "Recognize that an attitude problem exists.
The first step is to recognize that someone is expressing negativity in the workplace.  Do not ignore it if it is affecting that person's performance, your performance, the performance of others, or relationships with your clients or customers.

* Acknowledge any underlying causes for the negative attitude.
As we know, negativity has many causes.  The factors could include personal problems, work-related stress, a difficult boss, job insecurity, loss of loyalty, lack of growth or advancement opportunities, and so forth.  It helps to get the person to see the causes for his or her negativity.

* Help the person take responsibility.
It is ultimately the responsibility of the negative person to change his or her negative attitude and behaviors at work.  Even though the person may have every right to feel the way he or she does, it is still not appropriate for the workplace.  As a team member or boss, you need to help the colleague recognize this and to have him or her take ownership.

* Replace negative, inappropriate reactions with different, more acceptable ones.
The person may not know what to do differently to come across as more positive.  It will often be up to you to specify exactly what that is.

* Instill positive attitudes in others.
Be the role model for your negativists through your actions and behaviors.  You can prevent their negativity by instilling in them the positivist bug.  If you do that, they may never catch the negativity virus again (Topchik, 2001, pp. 23-24)."

Reference:  Topchik, G.S. (2001).  Managing workplace negativity.  New York:  AMACOM.

What strategies do you use to combat negativity?

Managing Workplace Negativity is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  A complete listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/

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Created: 2008-12-22, Updated: 2009-01-09