How to deal with negative people at work and save your office morale big time

  DUBAI – Negative people in the workplace come in various forms: there are the grumps, the bossy-types, the lazy ones and the gossipmongers. These negative personalities thrive in the workplace and if you let them, they can wear you down. According to a recent report on the Ministry of Interior’s 999 magazine, negative people hurt a team’s overall productivity and adversely influence work performance, decision-making, and creativity, amongst others.  Worse, those most impacted by this negativity may find stress creeping into their family life, as they carry the emotional contagion home. So how do you deal with them? Do not tolerate office gossips, said Lt. Col. Awadh Saleh Al Kindi, Editor-in-Chief of 999. Any kind of malicious talk “should never be tolerated because aside from causing distress to a person being talked about, it lowers the morale of the whole organisation to a great extent,” Al Kindi said. Don’t let people throw a dark cloud of negativism hanging over your head, Al Kindi advised. “It is important that we identify these naysayers amongst us and learn to deal with them; failing to do so can have a serious impact on our productivity at work or even relationships at home,” he said. Finally, get to the bottom of the problem. “While it is necessary to weed out the bad apples, it is more important to get to the bottom of the issue and understand how some people develop such unpleasant traits,” Al Kindi said. The 999 report says the family is at the core of behavioural developments. A person usually doesn’t suddenly become a negative person as an adult; it starts quite early in life either from a natural disposition or from family circumstances. “Children who are brought up in socioeconomically and financially balanced and stable families, will be themselves balanced, and will positively affect their surroundings when they grow up,” said Dr Moza Ghobash, professor of sociology and Chairperson of the Rewaq Ousha bint Hussain Cultural Society. Whatever a person’s dominant character trait, it may become exaggerated under pressure, Human Development Adviser Abdullah Said bin Shamma explained. “For example, if he’s originally an introvert, he’ll be more passive and reclusive. If he’s highly self-confident, he’ll tend to be express himself in a louder voice and in a more aggressive way,” Shamma also said. MFD/Expat Media