Thursday, August 20, 2009
In or Out!
There is no bigger distraction to the mission of an organization than a difficult and negative individual. It has been said that 1 negative person can take down an entire 1,000 person company. How sad! And, I have witnessed this way too many times in my career. They come in many different "wrappers" but they all have the same self righteous justification for their idiocy. Look, if you are not part of the solution you are the problem! Everyone should be mission driven, period. I don't care how you try to justify your actions. You're either "in" or you're "out." Give me an idea of how you handle your difficult and negative individuals?
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One bad apple can indeed spoil the whole bunch so keep a positive attitude. I agree everyone should be involved, just understand everyone's "mission" may not be the same as yours. Everyone has their own (smaller) mission and when you are effective in pulling all the different "missions" together, you create one common direction for all to achieve one common goal. There will always be one who likes to stir up trouble. It goes back to the old adage, misery loves company. Let them be and keep charging forward. They will hang themselves or change their attitude and direction. Use their negativity to your advantage. Allowing them to play devil's advocate also affords you an opportunity - to make sure you are indeed traveling in the right direction and covering all bases. In essence it forces you to cross all i's and dot all t's to insure success in your mission. Dwelling on their negativity breeds more negativity and wastes precious time and energy. Don't fall into the trap. Kill them with kindness and keep smiling knowing the outcome will be greater than you anticipated and you will have the satisfaction of completing your mission - with them, whether they wanted to participate or not.
ReplyDeleteYes to everything JoAnn has shared! I would add to this the strategy of filling your time and space with positive, problem solving people. Leave very little room for negativity. Those who thrive on it will soon enough feel uncomfortable and seek the company of other CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything).
ReplyDeleteIt can be tiring to keep a positive attitude. We must be there to support one another. I've been amazed at how my team rallies to lift me up when I just ask. Who's on your team?
Thanks for taking the time to provide insight. I love the term CAVE people!
ReplyDeleteglad we had that conversation regarding this the other day Randy. I went through this horrible experience when I first jumped into this competitive business 10ys back. I believe it was all new world to me then and probably just wanted to fit in with the crowds. Yes its sad they are still some people are perennial pessimists and have negative energy and negativistic attitudes. Its all behind me know me now. Like you said don't like to be surrounded by these people. Thanks for this post!
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