Among the challenges we may face at work is being faced with a negative coworker. The negative coworker can pull down the morale of the whole team or even worse, affect the productivity of the team.
Some people are just negative about everything. They don’t like their work, don’t like the ship they are sailing on, don’t like their company. You might just be sailing with one right now. Hang around negative people and you might become negative too. What can you do to handle these negative coworkers?
BE EMPATHETIC
Your negative coworkers who rant usually do not want solution to their problems; they just want to be heard. You can help by just hearing them out and being empathetic about their problems. These coworkers will appreciate it. Some negative coworkers will keep repeating their negative sentiments over and over again because they feel like you have not listened to them. Be empathetic and clarify their doubts if necessary.
DO NOT OVERANALYZE
After your negative coworker is done with his negative outpour, do not overanalyze the situation because by doing so you might get yourself bogged down with the negativity as well. By overanalyzing the behavior of negative people you are essentially wasting your time. So there’s no point racking your brains overanalyzing.
REDIRECT
If all else fails, redirect the negative coworker to the Master or Human Resource personnel who could better address his concerns. The Master or Human Resource may have ideas to issue the negativity and provide him with proper advice and guidance regarding their work problems.
