Negative People at Work: Love 'Em or Leave 'Em?

I used to think that there were two types of offenses in the workplace. The first type involved doing something really bad- hurting someone, theft, violating company policies, etc.

People had told me that there were other, softer types of wrongdoing that were also present at work but "not nearly as dangerous". These included complaining, being difficult to work with, and hurting the chemistry of the team.

Old school trainers will tell you to ignore these second kinds of folks.  That rarely works as complainers tend to be social by nature, sharing their dislikes with others.  That spells trouble and can sidetrack even the hardest of workers.

Unfortunately, complaining and being negative are two of the most dangerous behaviors at work.  They become almost concrete and to be frank, it's sad.  Life is too short to be full of negative energy.

Complaining is lousy for three reasons:

• Complaining doesn't solve the problem.


• Complaining wastes energy and time.


• Complaining erodes trust.

If you want to be positive at work, I recommend avoiding the negative forces (and people) as much as you can.  This may entail some sacrifices.  One teacher I know eats by himself because he doesn't want to hear negative talk in the lunchroom.

If you manage these folks, nip it in the bud a.s.a.p.  Have an honest conversation.

When it comes to complainers, should you love 'em or leave 'em?  From a Christian standpoint, everyone deserves a chance to contribute and be a member of the team.  Their honest work is so valuable to moving the mission forward. Ultimately, managers have to make the decision and each person is responsible for their own words and actions.

If it's true that "we're better together" then there is no place for complaining at work. You can be a positive influence on those around you and why not?  The complainer may have some issues at home or in their personal lives that they just can't separate from their eight hours at work.  You may be the only person with the courage enough to call them out or encourage them to be different.

If you're tempted to complain, pause and step away from the situation.  If someone around you is spreading negative vibes, choose carefully how you will respond.

How have you chosen to deal with complainers at work?

The Leadership Quotient of Blogging

A few weeks ago I decided to conduct an experiment: I would write five blog posts in five days.  It was a lot of fun and the posts were as follows:

Do You Have Pride in Your Work?

The Hardest Thing to Stop

An Alternative to a Daily Schedule

Focus Your Attention Through Desktop Apps

A Permission Slip...To Slow Down

I hadn't written this much in five days in quite a while.  I looked at it like a runner deciding to create a different workout within a given week.  It stretched me.

From a leadership perspective, creating something (anything really) that you then share with the world is good for your leadership.  Take Randy Elrod as an example.  As an artist, he often will tweet or blog about a new work that he's just finished.  This creates dialogue and dialogue is good for leadership.

Web 2.0 expert Charlene Li says this about the importance of leaders in dialogue with others: So I think the biggest impact that social media has had is that it is bringing people together.  It’s actually crafting new relationships and allowing people to create those relationships where they never existed before. (check out the rest of Charlene's interview on The Big Think here) (full interview is after the post)

Great leaders are in conversation with others.  They don't isolate themselves through a corner office or their own elevator.  More are blogging today than ever before.

For a good starting point to blogging, I recommend "What I've Learned from Four Years of Blogging" by Michael Hyatt.

Blogging- good for the soul and good for your leadership.  What are you waiting for?

 

One Reason Why More People Should Use Twitter

140 characters.

That's all you get when you use Twitter.  Sure, you can post photos and you can shorten long URL's but at its core, Twitter is about brevity.

I was asked to proofread a letter today by a colleague.  As I suggested adding a line to a particular paragraph, he looked at me and said, "I was trying to shorten this letter.  Do you really want this sentence included?"  His point: let's get to the point.  We deleted my line.

Twitter is synonymous with one phrase: an economy of words.

Too many folks take too long to say too little.  One of my best friends, @genedavid on Twitter often posts mysterious quotes and pithy statements (often about things that are over my head).  All are brief and each makes me think.

All of this could explain why some people are killing their email inboxes and using Twitter instead.

Be brief.  It's your gift to others.

Why Some People Don't Get Twitter

I just don't get Twitter.

At least that's what several people have said to me in the last two years.  It seems that people think that you have to be famous for others to follow you but that's not really the case.

Take Matthew Warner's project, TweetCatholic as an example.  Few of these folks are what we would describe as "famous".  Or look at The High Calling network of blogs.  The authors are stay-at-home moms, managers and consultants.  Again, few are famous.

What both TweetCatholic and The High Calling have in common is that people find their writers interesting.  When you are interesting, people are curious about how you spend your time.

And in comes Twitter.  I follow folks on Twitter not because it's creepy but because the people are interesting.  They have something to say.  They do interesting things.

So why aren't you on Twitter?  Even if you're nervous about tweeting, you just might find that others are interested in you.

 

What if People Actually Read Your Blog?

I was at a meeting yesterday when my friend, Pat, made a comment about an Instagram photo I had posted to Twitter.

Later in the day I was at a student dinner and a teacher mentioned that she had been reading my blog lately and that it had helped her to think more about prayer.

Two people on the same day.  Weird.  Cool.  Both at the same time.

So what do you do when you run across a real person who is following your blog? You could pretend that you're not flattered (although you are, face it) or you could enjoy a conversation about life, work and faith. Whatever the topic, just go with it.

You could use that moment and get to know the person better.

You can appreciate that technology can bring people closer together when used in the right way.