Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Nobody likes a complainer or person spreading negativity in the workplace. So what do you do?
Transcript:
Hi there, everybody. Cameron Morrissey here. One of the biggest difficulties in leadership is dealing with all of the negativity that comes at you. It doesn't matter whether you're at the top of the food chain, the middle of the food chain, or the bottom of the food chain actually. Negative people are always out there in the workforce. Some of them just love to complain. The one thing that you can do when people start complaining over and over again and always look at the negative side of things is ask them one simple question. What would it take for this to work well? You want to put them in a solution focused mindset. They might throw up their hands and say, "Oh, it'd take an act of God to make this any better," and go, "No, seriously, what would it take to make this situation better?" Then you either get them started on ideas and turning them into solution-focused people or they stop bringing their complaints to you because they don't want to go through the effort that you put them through of actually thinking things through and using their head on some of these things. Either way, it addresses those complaints and turns them into a positive or makes them go away. Use that question, and you won't have to deal with quite as much negativity in the workplace as you usually do. Thanks so much, everybody.
Nobody likes a complainer or person spreading negativity in the workplace. So what do you do?
Transcript:
Hi there, everybody. Cameron Morrissey here. One of the biggest difficulties in leadership is dealing with all of the negativity that comes at you. It doesn't matter whether you're at the top of the food chain, the middle of the food chain, or the bottom of the food chain actually. Negative people are always out there in the workforce. Some of them just love to complain. The one thing that you can do when people start complaining over and over again and always look at the negative side of things is ask them one simple question. What would it take for this to work well? You want to put them in a solution focused mindset. They might throw up their hands and say, "Oh, it'd take an act of God to make this any better," and go, "No, seriously, what would it take to make this situation better?" Then you either get them started on ideas and turning them into solution-focused people or they stop bringing their complaints to you because they don't want to go through the effort that you put them through of actually thinking things through and using their head on some of these things. Either way, it addresses those complaints and turns them into a positive or makes them go away. Use that question, and you won't have to deal with quite as much negativity in the workplace as you usually do. Thanks so much, everybody.
