Coping with malcontents: you can deal with negative staff and prevent yourself from becoming negative

School Administrator, Feb, 2003 by Michael R. Weber

Subconscious Habits

* Understand psychology.

Learn about the psychology of negativism. Negative people are using their attitude to control you and obtain something. Each time you or your staff membets get pulled into a negative downward spiral, negativism is reinforced and it intensifies. Negative people continue their negative habits so long as they are getting their desired control and reactions from others. Negative people are much like children in that they will get attention one way or another. If children do not get positive attention, they will misbehave, resulting in negative attention, because negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Negative people operate in the same manner. In addition, negative people have developed habits of reacting and interacting with their work environment. These habits are subconscious and will continue if you react to them in the same manner. Therefore, breaking this pattern is important for school leaders.

For example, I was working with a bus driver who was exceptionally negative and constantly complaining about everything. In her mind, if it wasn't negative it wasn't real. One day during a meeting with the district bus drivers to explain new transportation routes, she began complaining about being underpaid, dealing with disrespectful students and never having input in the decisions about routes. I said, "You might be right, so you have two choices. You decide. First, you can stay with your present route and get less pay because of less mileage or secondly you take the new route with more mileage and more salary. It is your choice, and I will support whatever you choose."

My offer disrupted her pattern because I did not get frustrated or angry; I just offered her two positive choices in a calm and supportive manner. Two weeks later, she apologized for her attitude and stated, "There are a lot of negative people out there, and I'm not going to be one of them."

You also can use your knowledge about the psychology of negativism and use techniques such as refraining.

* Reframe negativism into positive energy.

Reframing is an excellent way to break the negative attention cycle, and it prevents you from getting pulled into the negative downward spiral. For example, if you say, "It sure is a nice day today," and the negative person, perhaps your central-office receptionist, responds, "Yeah, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow." You agree with her, saying, "Yes it is supposed to rain tomorrow," and then reframe, "but I'm going to enjoy the day while it is here."

Another example: You receive a telephone call from a negative community resident who complains to you, "We sure have a lot of dead wood in this school district. What ate you going to do about it?" After you solicit additional information by asking for specifics, you can reframe the negative statement this way: "Yes, like any organization, our school district has a few staff members who need some assistance and redirection. Overall we have an excellent and dedicated group of staff members who genuinely care about children and their education. We have a comprehensive evaluation system that assists us in helping our weaker staff members improve."