How to Wrestle With a Pessimistic Employee

There is one in every office--the complainer, the whiner, the one who is never satisfied. Pessimists and naysayers in the work-place drain morale, sow discontent and breed apathy in the face of needed change.

Clearly, a certain amount of skepticism, a natural talent for pessimists, is valuable. When so much is at stake, we don't want to jump into a new project without trying to foresee what might go wrong. On the other hand, too often, the pessimist can be the harbinger of death for virtually any project. "It will never work. We tried that before. Oh, yeah, here we go again. This is just another one of those programs that no one will stick with."

In my consulting work, my biggest fear used to be facing people who naysay everything we are trying to accomplish. And, of course, it happens at every client. Let's face it. Companies don't call in consultants because everyone is happy and things are going well. While our first instinct might be to ignore or even get rid of pessimistic employees because they make working unpleasant, it is far better to...

Involve them in the solution. When they say that they tried this before, I find it beneficial to learn about what was tried and what went wrong with it. Now, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked and asking them sometimes crosses invisible lines in the sand. It takes a delicate but persistent style and an investigative strategy but discovering the answers to those questions can spell success to the current project.

Challenge the pessimist for a solution. Sometimes the negativity has nothing to do with the project. There is a hidden agenda and it usually has to do with a lack of communication about why decisions are being made. Improve the communication and then ask the pessimist what he or she would do to address the situation the company is facing. They often have good advice and if they can't come up with a solution or a suggestion, they may well be the root of the problem.

Partner with them. Pessimists think they are doing everyone a favor by pointing out how bad things are or what could or will go wrong next. They often do not realize how destructive and discouraging their comments are. Pessimistic employees are often surprised when their behavior is identified as negative and may well be willing to help by modifying their behavior, perhaps with follow-up coaching.

Examine the Employee's Personality Profile. Sometimes discontent results from an employee being better suited to a different kind of work. The stress of constantly having to operate in a job and a process to which they are ill suited. I've found that The Personality Compass is the best tool for typing personality and categorizing tasks. By increasing responsibilities that better fit with an employee's natural skills and talents and decreasing duties in areas that do not, an employee can be not only saved but can become much more productive and more valuable.

Though pessimistic employees and naysayers can be sometimes be problematic, it doesn't take much effort to turn a negative situation into a positive vehicle for change and convert a sometimes difficult employee into a more productive and valuable member of the team.