How to Manage - and Beat - Negativity
One of the most important things for any company to successfully tackle is the onslaught of negativity.
Negative energy can delay or train-wreck projects, increase costs, prevent effective change management,
raise stress levels and cause high employee turnover.
Negative energy can delay or train-wreck projects, increase costs, prevent effective change management,
raise stress levels and cause high employee turnover.
More often than not, you don't see it coming. Suddenly you wonder why absenteeism has shot up, take a look at production figures and find they're dropping. You had a feeling something was going on with A-Team but surely it can't be having that much of an effect on everyone else!?
Yes, it can. Negativity springs from discontent. For an invisible energy, it sure has a lot of guile. A no-holds-barred approach to personnel influence. One incident can light the blue touch paper for a negativity attack and open floodgates to a costly, caustic problem that doesn't budge.
There are 3 common (consecutive) approaches to negative assault.
First, you tolerate it. Live and let live. It'll blow over. People are what they are. Etc....
Then patience starts to run dry. Memos go out reminding colleagues of intolerance towards certain behaviours.
When the memos have no effect actions are taken to 'make an example' of a situation, or worse still, of a person.
Yes, it can. Negativity springs from discontent. For an invisible energy, it sure has a lot of guile. A no-holds-barred approach to personnel influence. One incident can light the blue touch paper for a negativity attack and open floodgates to a costly, caustic problem that doesn't budge.
There are 3 common (consecutive) approaches to negative assault.
First, you tolerate it. Live and let live. It'll blow over. People are what they are. Etc....
Then patience starts to run dry. Memos go out reminding colleagues of intolerance towards certain behaviours.
When the memos have no effect actions are taken to 'make an example' of a situation, or worse still, of a person.
What can I do about negativity?
Tackle it head-on, as a collective. And let everyone be clear about the strategy - leave no room for it to fester in the shadows. Easier said than done?
Negativity is a cause in itself; wreaking havoc because it can, it needs no encouragement.
Like Dark Energy, negativity doesn't want to be found and stays away from the spotlight. In the polarity stakes, you can consider it Dark against Positivity as a corresponding Light. Instead of trying to deal with the symptoms, go straight for the cause. When you do this, everyone will pitch in with you. Illumination of a problem is not as hard as it looks.
Suddenly the causes reveal themselves. Fragmentation, blame, responsibility resistance ("silo mentality"), insecurity and fear. Fear - polarity of Love. These are not just base instincts. These are QuantumEsque base instincts. They are energies.
When you handle negativity correctly, you find yourself in a win-win situation. Any pointing finger can only turn to you feebly for a fleeting moment, if at all, when you appreciate that no-one is to blame. But when you apportion blame, you realise your own worst fears as the finger comes flying straight back at you. Habitually, shop floors will blame the management and management will blame the workforce. Break this cycle, and you have a chance to move forward. "Blame culture" became a watchword for a reason.
Get creative with your approaches. Get people involved in new initiatives, like creating KPIs they can enjoy working with. Set up mentorship programmes that give people opportunities to learn from each other. Rest assured, you're going to find one or two people who prefer to stay on-side with Negativity, and threaten to undermine your best efforts.
Negativity is a cause in itself; wreaking havoc because it can, it needs no encouragement.
Like Dark Energy, negativity doesn't want to be found and stays away from the spotlight. In the polarity stakes, you can consider it Dark against Positivity as a corresponding Light. Instead of trying to deal with the symptoms, go straight for the cause. When you do this, everyone will pitch in with you. Illumination of a problem is not as hard as it looks.
Suddenly the causes reveal themselves. Fragmentation, blame, responsibility resistance ("silo mentality"), insecurity and fear. Fear - polarity of Love. These are not just base instincts. These are QuantumEsque base instincts. They are energies.
When you handle negativity correctly, you find yourself in a win-win situation. Any pointing finger can only turn to you feebly for a fleeting moment, if at all, when you appreciate that no-one is to blame. But when you apportion blame, you realise your own worst fears as the finger comes flying straight back at you. Habitually, shop floors will blame the management and management will blame the workforce. Break this cycle, and you have a chance to move forward. "Blame culture" became a watchword for a reason.
Get creative with your approaches. Get people involved in new initiatives, like creating KPIs they can enjoy working with. Set up mentorship programmes that give people opportunities to learn from each other. Rest assured, you're going to find one or two people who prefer to stay on-side with Negativity, and threaten to undermine your best efforts.
How can I get everyone on board?
Right from the start, people experience benefit; they rediscover a sense of purpose and become energised by the results of their own efforts. Suddenly 'coming to work' is something to look forward to. Those couple of people whose defences are so high that they refuse to take part, they will make progress in their own way.
While you're cultivating this new system, pressure reduces. Relax, and Devil's Snare gives way (a principle from Harry Potter, in case you were wondering.) With a healthy top line in the making, everyone can watch it perform to full potential. You'll soon see this performance reflected in the bottom line, but don't focus on the fiscal and let it grab attention from personnel and progress. This is advancement, with all taking part - helping each other to focus productively, getting the best from available resources , and letting beneficial gifts create the environment you want, because they can.
While you're cultivating this new system, pressure reduces. Relax, and Devil's Snare gives way (a principle from Harry Potter, in case you were wondering.) With a healthy top line in the making, everyone can watch it perform to full potential. You'll soon see this performance reflected in the bottom line, but don't focus on the fiscal and let it grab attention from personnel and progress. This is advancement, with all taking part - helping each other to focus productively, getting the best from available resources , and letting beneficial gifts create the environment you want, because they can.
How do I start motivating people?
You start by interacting with an energy that speaks for itself. Today is a new day to share in. Carpe Diem means to 'harvest', not 'seize'. View your company holistically, see your approach reflected in people wanting, and working with, positivity. The workplace is a major part of your life purpose, where you get to collectively make things happen in a microcosmic world. Everyone gains from being present in the workplace and everyone gives with a need to feel valued. By being present, investing energy and incorporating physics strategically, results you know as current potential can be realised.
Meetings - all of them - start with a short agenda and end with agreed actions. The next meeting starts with those agreed actions and ends with further agreements. And so on. If you don't make absolutely sure that every meeting follows this pattern, you're wasting a lot of time on pow-wows. When your meetings do follow this pattern, you will quickly see positive results.
Talk through your first agenda with me, for free.
Meetings - all of them - start with a short agenda and end with agreed actions. The next meeting starts with those agreed actions and ends with further agreements. And so on. If you don't make absolutely sure that every meeting follows this pattern, you're wasting a lot of time on pow-wows. When your meetings do follow this pattern, you will quickly see positive results.
Talk through your first agenda with me, for free.
