September 23, 2010

Man, This is all screwed up…

patty published this at 7:37 am

by Patty Azzarello

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As a leader how do you deal with with negative energy?

Leading in rough times

This has come up a lot lately, so I wanted to talk more about this point I often mention as one of my top Leadership Values:

It is never the wrong idea to be positive and to lead.

When I say this I do not mean you should bury the problems and pretend everything is OK. Quite the opposite.

Face reality.

I mean jump in with both feet, acknowledge how ugly it is, and personally help find a way out of it.

When it gets bad…

OK, so they said there would be no layoffs, and now they are laying people off. They are treating people like crap. They don’t care. People are pissed off. Now there is even more pressure on schedules and cost cutting. My boss has checked out. No one has my back. I am getting blamed for things that are not my fault. My organization is likely to be shut down, so why should I care. Nothing I do matters.
What will you do next?

Winston Churchill once said,
“If you are going through hell, keep going!”.

You have a choice: Jump on all the crap with an equally negative attitude, or face it head on as leader who intends to make a positive difference for the business and the people.

Why do people choose to be negative?

It’s funny.

It is a wonderful comedic platform to go on about how messed up everything is and how stupid all the managers are, and how no one gives a damn about the employees.

It’s cool.

Being cynical and subversive is way more cool than being the boy-scout, showing that you are aligned with the lame corporate way of doing business.

You look smart.

If you can use a lot of details and data about why everything is screwed up, and dive into endless root-cause analysis, and catalog all the blame at a very granular level, some people will think you are really smart.

It’s easy.

Being negative and generating lots of data and commentary absolves you of having to do any work to fix anything.

But…

Being Negative is Toxic

It doesn’t help.

Nothing moves forward or gets better. This type of negativity draws people in because it a source of energy, and camaraderie in the absence of positive leadership. It becomes the way things are. And then it defines the future.
What does it look like to be positive and to lead?

Acknowledge the bad.

This is a really crappy time. I’m disappointed too. What do you think?.

Invite some discussion.

Let people tell you how this is impacting them. But then close that discussion off and make it clear you are planning to go forward. Ask for their help.

You have my commitment and support to create a new plan of attack. We can’t keep doing things the same way because it is killing us, but we need to move forward. Let’s focus on one thing that we can do well and start doing it right now. Or, at a minimum, let’s focus on how we can build our career capital for the future.

Life is long

If you choose negative path, or if you choose to checkout, or broadcast how screwed up everything is, in reality it might not make a big difference in that moment. So what are you hurting? You are having some laughs.

Sometimes there is no way practical way forward. Your organization could be being dismantled, outsourced or eliminated entirely. So who cares, right? What’s the big deal if I check out? It doesn’t matter anyway..

I have faced this many times at the helm of an organization who was being acquired or laid off… it might not seem like anything we do matters right now because this is all going away.

What you do now matters to YOU

Just remember that even though it might not matter in the current business situation, all of those people around you will eventually move on to other jobs in other places.

They will remember how you acted NOW.

Will they remember someone taking cheap shots at everyone and everything and checking out? or will they remember someone who stepped up tried to find a way to help?

If you can’t help the business, help the people.

People need you to be positive and to lead. It is never the wrong choice.

If it’s too bad, get out

If it’s really bad, get out. But while you are on your way, it is still the right choice to be positive and help others — if for no other reason, because it’s better for you.

You can build a hugely positive reputation for leadership in tough times.
People are always watching. It always matters.

How have you dealt with negative energy as a leader?

It’s so important (and at times really difficult) to stay positive. How do you it? Please share in the comment box!

—–
Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at The Azzarello Group Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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Filed under Business Life, leadership / management, Successful Blog, Writing | 7 Comments »


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7 Comments to “Man, This is all screwed up…”

  1. September 23rd, 2010 at 9:43 am
    Andy @ FirstFound said

    Being negative can help in my experience. It can show those in a position to change things what the problems are on the shop floor.

  2. September 23rd, 2010 at 2:28 pm
    steveplunkett said

    i’d rather be the boy scout, thank you for posting this liz, thanks to patty for writing it and shedding light on problems some people should fix…

    =)

  3. September 23rd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
    Alasdair Munn said

    There is a difference between being constructive and being negative. Owning up to a problem is only failure if you let it be.
    As a Zimbabwean, my upbringing taught me that to succeed, you needed to work within your resources, find solutions to problems and to position yourself for success.
    We call it ‘Making a plan”.

    Business is dynamic and so too should the process of management.
    I do recognise the temptation to delve into negativity though. Often the thought of tackling something as simple as a client document, or something as complex as a 5 year plan can fill me with dread. Often the best cure is starting. Once you have started you wonder what the fuss was about.
    Great piece, thanks for the positivity nudge.

  4. September 23rd, 2010 at 8:51 pm
    Patty Azzarello said

    Thanks for the comments. Andy, I want to emphasize that I am never advocating burying problems, but rather addressing them head on. You should absolutely get the people who can do something to recognize the problem, but there is a big difference between being constructive and offering to help, or just shooting arrows and being negative. Good luck! Patty

  5. September 23rd, 2010 at 8:53 pm
    Patty Azzarello said

    Thanks, Alasdair!

    I relate to what you are saying. Just starting makes a big difference. I often find that what ever it is I was dreading gets done far faster than I imagined too. thinking about too much it makes it a bigger hill to climb. I completely agree. Just start!

    Patty

  6. September 24th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
    Scott P. Dailey said

    OMG, Patty, I was just talking on Facebook today about how it’s the lazy way out to ONLY moan. Whining is the shallow opportunist’s veiled attempt at seeming engaged in his ecology, aware of his surroundings. Sadly some think that itemizing the negatives passes as a contribution. I think we’re often very susceptible t our own sense of self-importance and subsequently, some along us are quite comfortable making the open-ended rant. It’s a cope out. Don’t get me wrong, I can cry with the best of ‘em, but I try to make all my crying lead to a crossroads where we can choose to make yesterday’s failings, well yesterday’s failings. Just today – again you’re time rocks – I was commenting to a saleswoman I work with that if all we did yesterday was complain about how crappy it all was, then what will we do today to adapt to yesterday’s craptacular? Complain, make it lead somewhere new and exciting. And I love that you challenge us to avoid being so predictable as to just poo-poo the unenthusiastic environment we’re in. Seize the role! Like you said, negative energy is still energy. People will gravitate toward it like moths. It’s a lot harder to make the noisy case and then produce a plan to remedy it. Squawking is not a remedy, it only masquerades as one to a needy crowd hungry for energy as you say. Patty, man you just nail this stuff! L-O-V-E-D it!

  7. September 26th, 2010 at 9:08 am
    patty said

    Hi Scott, thanks. I think you nailed it in your comment when you said:

    “Sadly some think that itemizing the negatives passes as a contribution.”

    and

    “It’s a lot harder to make the noisy case and then produce a plan to remedy it.”

    You would like an HBR article called “The Smart Talk Trap”. you get it from the HBR website.
    :)
    Patty

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