Hi, everybody. I’m Mike Staver. This is Mondays with Mike, a weekly video series where I answer questions from people just like you. Here’s this week’s question.
“There’s a person in my department at work that is THE most negative person I’ve ever met. I swear they could find something wrong with even the best things in life. We’ve tried to ask him to come up with solutions to the things he complains about, as you have suggested on multiple Mondays with Mike, and he just says he can’t or he won’t do it, and he circles back into complaining. Several of us have gone to him and talked to him based on your advice. Thank you. We have made suggestions for how he can focus on solutions, and he is still the most negative person. He’s so negative, that now I’m negative about his negativity. The problem is, overall, he’s a nice guy, but oh my gosh, is he negative. We’ve all decided to work around him, not share as much with him, and generally, only talk about light, non-essential things. Any other thoughts on how to work with him?”
No, no no, I got nothing. It’s good. You’ve tried to get him focused on solutions. That’s great. You’ve talked to him and made suggestions about how he could be more positive. That’s good. He’s a nice guy and you guys still like hanging out with him. That’s good. We decide to work around him, not share as much with him, and generally, only talk about light, non-essential things. I got nothing. That’s good.
For all the rest of you, this is a lab for what you do with really negative people. Listen to what this question says. We’ve asked him to come up with solutions to the things that he complains about. Brilliant. He says he can’t or won’t. It happens. Several of us have talked to him about his negativity and made suggestions about how he could focus his negativity on being more positive. Overall, he’s a nice guy, and we’ve decided to work around him and not share much with him, and generally, only talk about light, non-essential things so we’re not as exposed to his negativity. That’s perfect.
That is exactly the way to do it. I would use this video and this question to talk to everybody in your organization about how to deal with negative people because there’s not a better way. It’s a little bit like being in quicksand. The harder you struggle to get out of it, the harder you struggle to get away from it, the more difficult it is, so no, really well done. I got nothing extra. That’s it. Thank you for sharing this because it’s going to help a lot of people. I would share with you my income from Mondays with Mike, but there’s none.
Anyway, I hope this is helpful to you.
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