The Hindu Business Line : Banishing negativity

Negativity is like a weed that grows on its own without any nurturing. We don’t even know how many forms of ‘negative’ we experience in our day-to-day lives. We do not realise the damage it causes and the impact it leaves on our personality. Reasons why we feel negative are many — people, situations, health, wealth, global warming, the economy and just about anything anywhere.

What makes negative feelings, thoughts and attitudes a real threat is that there are no visible symptoms that you can diagnose and treat immediately. The influence is so intangible that you attribute its ill effects to incompetence and negligence, especially in your workplace. Negative feelings not only hamper your productivity, but also stunt your professional growth and personal well-being.

Such negative feelings, attitudes and thoughts in the workplace can result from things such as office politics, favouritism, poor efforts-to-results ratio, an inefficient superior/subordinate/colleague, non-cooperative staff, rigid superior/subordinate, gossip and so on. For example, gossip — a facet of the corporate grapevine — is a common instance of negativity in the workplace. It gives us the ability to peep into people’s lives and at times has a humour element attached to it and is seen as a de-stressor. However, the negative effect gradually accrues within us without our knowledge and finally takes the form of resentment, dissatisfaction, irritation and frustration.

Negativity flirts with us and starts working on our mind because we tend to get carried away. We discuss it with the first person who lends us an ear, irrespective of his relationship with us. As is rightly said, ‘What goes around comes around’. Unfortunately, on this occasion it hits back with multiplied intensity. To flirt with negativity and not let it affect us requires it to be tackled smartly.

NO NEGATIVE ACROSS OR DOWN THE ORGANOGRAM

The term ‘across’ refers to colleagues and team members you constantly interact and associate with. They could be colleagues from your department or from other departments, having similar designations. They are people you interact with, but do not necessarily report to. The term ‘down’ refers to subordinates who directly or indirectly report to you or your team members.

You should not discuss your negative thoughts and feelings with them because they may not have your best interest at heart. Such people could be on a par with you or even lower down the order when it comes to experience, understanding and skills. They may not know how to handle the negativity you express and may get unnecessarily stressed.

Superiors are supposed to be considered as leaders by their subordinates and it becomes difficult for them to accept that their superior is unable to deal with certain situations. There is also every chance that they may share it with other colleagues to ridicule you in the office. You may end up adding more negativity instead of clearing your kitty of negative emotions and attitudes. However, this does not mean that you stay mum about your negative feelings and do not express yourself.

ALL NEGATIVE GOES UP THE ORGANOGRAM

The term ‘up’ denotes a superior in the organisation, someone you directly or indirectly report to. He/she is the person who is looked upon as a leader, is in good standing with the organisation and works in line with the organisational goals. Discussing your negative with your superior will help because he/she has more experience, vision, better skills and understanding to offer you solutions and can guide you properly in getting rid of your negativity. This is because they have ‘been there, done that’ i.e. they must have encountered similar situations and have found effective ways to deal with them.

‘All negative goes up the organogram’ should not be treated as ‘only negative goes up all the time’. You must also try to be a part of the solution process. If you have some suggestions, share it with your superior. This will make him/her feel positive about your outlook. Otherwise, there are chances that he/she will soon become indifferent towards the negativity you experience. The bottomline is that negative feelings should be shared with your superior in a manner in which you can derive the best and quickest solutions from him/her.

Understand your superior’s temperament and discuss your negative feelings in a manner such that he/she understands that it is affecting your productivity and that you would be relieved once it is dealt with.

Be open and transparent with your superior while discussing negatives. Our mind is very much like a mug of coffee that has coffee beans of negative thoughts blended with milk symbolising positive thoughts. However, we can dilute the bitterness of the beans by adding more milk. This can be done by reading books that help develop a positive mental attitude, associating with positive-minded people and attending seminars that promote positive thinking. The idea is to make these activities a habit so that the level of positivism within you grows and remains stronger than the negativism inside.

(The writer is the CEO of Britt Worldwide-India, a business education and training company.)