Saturday, August 3, 2013

Dealing with "Neg-Heads" Creating a Positive Workplace

Promoting Positivity, Why I would rather be surrounded by Positivity...

I remember one workplace I was specifically made manager of for 1 reason only.... I went into to clear out the "dead" wood staff...I had a hit list of who head office wanted rid of, and I went in with  the most sickening positive attitude, drove the ones out who did not buy into it further away, (they gave me the basics, I gave them back just that) ....and I slowly but surely built a "new" group of positive people around me, I did not allow much working with  the "negative people", so I split them apart.
 By creating groups for training I knew the "Neg heads" would hate but they were always politely asked to attend and it was left up to them to participate and join in, (guess  what they didn't but I heard PLENTY of feedback about the groups from the staffroom, which surprised me how much they had to say since they did not participate)
anyway It just got the point I really did NOT care, they were welcome to join in at any time and I always left a door open
(sure sometimes I wanted to tell them where to go, but obviously they were not the smartest in the bunch, although they maintained THEY were, ...lol ;)
It was a SLOG but eventually I outweighed them with new staff so they were completely out of their comfort zone.....I made sure the good (positive) workers got all the great shifts/rewards  ...WHY would I not listen to the negative griping ones......those people were single handily bringing down my business I ultimately was responsible for....
 I worked overtime, 14-16 hour days.... making either the negative lot even MORE distanced, more annoyed, some left, some I never even noticed leaving, But I had MY goals and MY vision for MY buisness ....But I was  SLOWLY shifting the balance (It became like a game for me.
I was also the youngest area manager in the company, and earned my respect through this particular shop...I mean you know the ones that always complained....sent me reports of others misgivings, whilst they brought nothing new to the table either.
Get real if I was interested in what YOU had to say I would ASK you.
Just moan moan moan, never once giving one single bit of constructive feedback. I could work with and listen IF and only IF they were bringing new stuff to the table.
Reports of he said this she said that, I ended up not even reading those reports, I even set up a filter for those types of report!
I wanted to  read reports that were from staff who were going to take my bottom line back up!
My new staff went through a bit of a hard time too, some couldn't take the negativity showed towards them for being eager it and left too they were called out  for "brown nosing" sucking up to the boss....getting special  treatment .....no, they were being rewarded for working, making my business, better, taking that extra mile to ensure they carried out their duties to make my customers have a great experience.  (and yes it was all under VERY tough circumstances at the time.

This is not about "brown nosing" this is about surrounding yourself with people who have the same agenda as you and your business.

My Assistant manager would listen to all I had to say, go and do, THEN come back and tell me if
A. What Was successful
B. What we HAD to improve on

Never once, was I questioned over MY instructions.  Questioned over why I was doing this,

If you find yourself in a negative cycle then consider these 2 points

1. If you don't like it then maybe your IN the wrong Business

2.If it was YOUR business would you like to be working with YOU.

I met one of my worst ever "Neg-head" offenders I ever had the pleasure of meeting, in my whole entire working life.
They were very nice to me surprising since I did sack them, but they asked what I had been doing these last 10 years or so, and I was pleased to tell them a range of things and life was good.

Funnily enough I was not in the least bit surprised when I reciprocated the question.
And they just hung their head with  stooped shoulders and replied "same old s**t"?  WOW. It struck me as this person was just stuck, appearing unhappy at their lot in life.
Then they went onto complain how unfair their manager was, changing everything and how was he to do all this just to keep him happy?

Life is not always rosy, it has ups and downs, believe me I have been  through enough in my life, to make your hair go white prematurely.
But carrying a negative attitude around with you and "sharing" it with others is not pleasant, or indeed wanted.  Unless you stumble on a group of "neg-heads" together then go for it.

 But don't push YOUR negativity  onto others who ARE trying to get on.  That is not Fair.

Great book to READ for Having a Positive Attitude is Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive: 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive Attitude

until next time

Lisa