Why does this business inspire some producers to say the sky is green if you say it is blue? Where do these chronic negative attitude people come from? Are they simply unhappy people? Maybe. They aren’t always big producers. They aren’t always old geezers. They aren’t always men. They often have otherwise good relationships in life. So why do they hate(or at least appear to hate) their boss so much? Does it come from the bullet-proof certainty in life when you truly have fuck you money? Does it come from some deeply repressed hostility that you can’t keep “the man” down and the producer is “the man”?
Actually, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just face reality: everybody in the branch is going to hate you from time to time. But only a small portion of the crowd should hate you all the time. If everyone hates you all the time, you will face massive attrition and eventual unemployment. Call us from the burger stand down the street.
Is the chronic hater recognized as such in the branch? If so, you have no problem as their credibility on the topic was shot long before you showed up on the scene. The bigger concern is the guy with credibility who hates everything about you.
Don had a guy, let’s call him Bert, who made no secret of his disdain for management and Don specifically. Bert was not a compliance problem and a pretty good guy by most people’s perspectives. He seemed to have no interest in leaving and as a fairly low level producer, really didn’t have fuck you money. Yet, he went out of his way to be critical of everything Don did. And this criticism was heard by the entire branch, senior management, and anybody who would listen. So what did Don do? He basically stopped caring what Bert did and said and made it clear to Bert that he didn’t care what he said or did. It wasn’t overnight, but he eventually stopped trafficking in his negativity as it was having no discernable effect. Bert was marginalized because Don was secure enough in himself and his decisions that he could afford to allow some negativity to exist. In other words, Don fixed the problem by making a decision. To do nothing. To ignore.
Most Regionals are smart enough to sniff out the poisonous whiners and negative energy producers. The problem is these “captains of carping” will sometimes get an audience with a Regional who is sniffing around for some dirt on you. Rarely will these guys get you fired. But they can add ammo to a dysfunctional situation.
So what can you do about these nagging ninnies? How about a list of thing you most certainly should not do:
> Try to make them your friend. Honestly, this crowd would hate Mother Theresa if she were their manager and you ain’t no Mother Theresa. So don’t try.
> Give them special fuel for their fire. If you decide to pick on them somehow, they might get some sympathy in the branch they wouldn’t normally get. Bad idea.
> Fire them because they annoy you. If they turn into the bad guy described earlier, you have another kind of problem. But shooting a whiner will not make you look strong to the branch or to the regional. You’ll just be a bully. Oh by the way, HR will kill you dead.
> Give them a platform to be negative. If they want to go negative in public, indicate you have limited time for that and tell them to take it off line with you one on one. Sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t but making it public that you will listen to “Toxic Bert” in your office scores you points.
> Let your insecurity show in public. Sometimes these guys can really drag you down. Let’s face it: you are human and even the toughest, alligator skinned among us can feel pain. Save the venting for a trusted friend on the golf course. Or call a trusted colleague and spew for 10 minutes straight. Tell your spouse how you want to kick the guy’s ass. Go to the gym and beat on the heavy bag saying “Take that Bert you mother.” But if you lose it in the office, you can lose the office. In short, even if you don’t feel secure, you can act secure. Fake it until you make it. Or fake it even if you can’t make it.
In the end, just realize the “I hate all management” guy probably can’t hurt you all that much. Be smart enough to put up with the noise.
Got another take on this or a similar situation? Email it to manageia2@gmail.com.
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