Do you have a few individuals on your team where the glass isn’t half full – it’s practically empty? We all have experienced negative attitudes in our lives. Whether from another coworker or within our circle of family and friends. It’s discouraging to hear negative attitudes towards change, other employees, clients, or even the status quo over and over again. As a leader, you can change this record with these 6 different approaches. Here is how to coach an employee with a negative attitude
What kind of negative attitude can the employee have?
A negative employee can exhibit some of the following problem behaviors:
- They are quick to point of mistakes of others
- Non-productive complaints about clients, co-workers, and leadership, the business itself
- Gossip about co-workers, leadership, or clients
- Disagreement with leadership, constantly undermining with comments or behaviors
- Take a negative position towards new ideas or process improvements. “That will never work!”
I’m sure by now you have either worked with or supervised one of these types of negative employees. There will be some at most organizations and in every industry. Since they are so pervasive, you will need to learn how to motivate and coach them towards more professional behavior.
I remember one employee where it was very difficult to get them excited over a process improvement. They would focus on the potential points of failure, and then decide that those were insurmountable and the plan would not work. It felt like I was having a conversation with Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh!
I felt frustrated because I am comfortable with change and always on the lookout for industry best practice. Instead of getting frustrated with them, I combined two approaches below to coach this employee with a negative attitude. Based on their last performance review, they are now one of my top employees.
What is the impact on the team?
When dealing with a negative employee on your team there are two problem scenarios: other staff do not want to work with them, or the negative employee infects more staff and now you have more negativity.
The staff that do not want to work with them may exclude them at first, which impacts teamwork and productivity. If the work culture becomes negative and toxic – the good employee may leave out of frustration.
In a previous post, I mentioned how as a leader you could spend 80% of your time dealing with 20% of your staff. The unfortunate catch-22 of this is that unless you are careful, your other staff may feel neglected. Your great performers can always find another job, but somehow the staff that are vocally unhappy are not the ones who look elsewhere and you are stuck with them.
The second issue is that other staff start to adopt this negative behavior as well. All of a sudden you will find yourself having to coach more than one employee with a negative attitude. It’s way too much work! Save yourself from multiple difficult conversations by having only one much earlier when you see undesirable negative behavior.
6 different approaches for how to coach an employee with a negative attitude
It needs to be clear with the staff member that a negative attitude is a performance issue. You should not wait to address during their next performance appraisal because during that time, they can do a lot of damage to your team or business.
The challenge of coaching or mentoring an employee with a negative attitude is that you are going to get resistance over and over again. If they are convinced that their attitude is not the problem – co-workers, clients, management are the problem!
Give them productive outlets
Challenge them to come up with solutions to issues they see with a project, client, or the business. If they want to complain, they should be productive with it. “Management doesn’t listen” when you don’t have anything productive to say.
Give them some responsibility
They may feel like they do not have control over their situation. If it feels like it might help, give them some decision making abilities within a project and back them up.
Avoid hiring toxic employees in the first place with these interview questions that are deigned to find red flags during interviews that have a higher likelihood to be a negative member of your team.
Listen to the root cause
“If you don’t tell me what is wrong – I can’t fix it”. Encourage the employee to tell you what is going on that is leading to their negative attitude. If there is a problem that is within your control to fix, go ahead and do it. Action will talk. They are more likely to bring issues to you sooner if they feel that you will listen and act.
Get them to adjust their delivery of negative comments
They may not be self aware of now they come across to you or their peers. Give them some concrete examples of things that they have said, and how they could say it better. For instance, instead of saying “this will never work” say, “I’m concerned that this aspect will hold up the project, can we discuss further?”. A productive approach is way better.
Let them know that a good attitude will take their work performance to the next level.
Clarify their impact on the team
They need to know, in no uncertain terms, the negative impact of their behavior on the team.
Coach the employee with a personal development plan that focuses on improving the negative behavior. It should be created with their collaboration and should focus on the final behavior you want to see. Ensure the employee is the one who says the behaviors they are going to demonstrate to meet the final behavior. If they don’t come up with anything, make sure you push them along.
For instance, if you would like them to quit gossiping about their coworkers, the employee should come up with concrete actions to demonstrate that behavior. Examples may be, “stop engaging in discussions that may be untrue”, “if I see a gap in knowledge with a colleague, I will help them learn”, and “lower temptation to gossip by not engaging as much in a discussion with people who stop by workspace”.
Learn how to curb gossip on your team, by reading these different tips and tricks here.
Increase their confidence
They may engage in gossip or point out the errors of others because they are insecure. Call them out on it one-on-one. A simple, “you know, I already think highly of your work and contributions to the team. Putting your co-workers down will not make you look better. If you really want to impress me, you will mentor and help them improve”.
Alternatively, if they are not a great employee and they are trying to take the pressure of of themselves, you should performance manage that. Coach them on improving themselves first.
Learn how to deal with a toxic employee who undermine your authority with these approaches.
Follow up check in meetings
When it comes to how to coach an employee with a negative attitude, some people just like to be miserable. There are things outside of your control that could be happening in their personal life. They are responsible for their attitude. You can give them the tools and the opportunity to change their mindset- but it is up to them.
how to coach an employee with a negative attitude, how to coach an employee with a negative mindset