From my experience, complaining goes from positive with action-oriented thinking. Then, when the feedback is ignored, it becomes neutral. And after it’s ignored again and again, it becomes negative.
Great post. Very relatable to what I'm seeing on my team. What I notice is that people who complain also find ways to justify it even if it has negative impact on others. "But don't I have the right to express myself", or "I'm a human". What worked me for was linking it back to an impact on themselves.
I’d add here as well another type of negative attitude: deeply rooted skepticism. It is especially seen well in well established organizations with mature employees. Some of those dinosaurs become an anchor for teams - constantly torpedoing new ideas and initiatives „it won’t work”, „not in this organization” „you will see” - it is not complaining per se but definitely a toxic discouragement. Anyway - good food for thought Michał!
From my experience, complaining goes from positive with action-oriented thinking. Then, when the feedback is ignored, it becomes neutral. And after it’s ignored again and again, it becomes negative.
Unfortunately, that reinforces a negative cycle if the feedback is ignored.
Thanks for your perspective, Juri!
Great post. Very relatable to what I'm seeing on my team. What I notice is that people who complain also find ways to justify it even if it has negative impact on others. "But don't I have the right to express myself", or "I'm a human". What worked me for was linking it back to an impact on themselves.
Thank you, Suresh!
Showing the impact on themselves is an excellent way to help with it.
I’d add here as well another type of negative attitude: deeply rooted skepticism. It is especially seen well in well established organizations with mature employees. Some of those dinosaurs become an anchor for teams - constantly torpedoing new ideas and initiatives „it won’t work”, „not in this organization” „you will see” - it is not complaining per se but definitely a toxic discouragement. Anyway - good food for thought Michał!
That's an interesting one I didn’t cover.
Thanks for the valuable addition, Marcin!
Love the summary, take ownership.
I'm glad it resonated, John!
This is an important aspect of a non-complaining mindset.