{"id":127,"date":"2017-03-20T18:41:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T00:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/?p=127"},"modified":"2017-03-20T19:19:02","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T01:19:02","slug":"the-tipping-point-negativity-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/20\/the-tipping-point-negativity-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tipping Point (Negativity in the workplace)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently this article<\/a> ended up coming across my social media feeds – an article about dealing with negative emotions at work, which I think is a really good read. \u00a0I know as a manager, figuring out how\u00a0to deal with employees who are dealing with something negative –\u00a0outside or inside of work is one that is a tricky thing for me. \u00a0Potentially more when it\u2019s outside, because then it\u2019s out of my control other than as a support mechanism. \u00a0So the article, I really appreciated for that reason.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Outside of that however, one phrase that\u00a0stood out to me was\u00a0about how it \u2018can\u00a0spin into long-lasting resentment and unhappiness\u2019. \u00a0That really resonated with me, because I\u2019ve been there previously. I worked a job where by the end of my time there I hated every morning I got up, every time I went in. \u00a0I cared less, I felt less, and I couldn\u2019t wait to go out there. \u00a0But that on its own wasn\u2019t enough to make me look for change.<\/p>\n

No,\u00a0there was another tipping point. \u00a0You can handle frustration, anger etc. at work – people have to, as the article points out with it\u2019s \u2019stop ignoring it\u2019 message (as good for internal negativity as it is external as mentioned). \u00a0There will always be periods of roughness in any job, whether you love it, hate it, or really don\u2019t care. \u00a0And yes, that negativity will impact your work no matter what you do.<\/p>\n

I was surprised when I found the\u00a0tipping point wasn\u2019t \u2018when you don\u2019t think you can take the current situation anymore\u2019 – that it\u00a0actually was\u00a0not the long-lasting resentment and unhappiness part. \u00a0For me the tipping point was the moment where I realized that even if everything changed for the better, even if everything went sunshine and roses for the workplace, I couldn\u2019t go back to that.\u00a0 That resentment and bitterness taints everything – outlook at the workplace, feelings for the work,\u00a0and sadly often your own behaviour (no matter how hard you\u2019ve tried). \u00a0And you can hit the point where it\u2019s now just corrupted forever to you.<\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s always hope at first, even if unhappy, even if resentful. \u00a0You believe in something – that it\u2019ll get better, \u2018if we just get over this hump\u2019, or even \u2018well, I\u2019d rather this then x\/I can\u2019t do better\u2019. \u00a0That belief sustains you even if every\u00a0thing has fallen apart. Or the flip side to hope, cynicism – there\u2019s nothing better out there, or at least here I don\u2019t have to care. \u00a0Either of these emotions can sustain you beyond what you originally thought was your breaking point.<\/p>\n

When I was in that situation, I had colleagues\u00a0who were as unhappy\u00a0as much as I was.\u00a0 Who after I left I would go back an meet occasionally, and listen to them complain, just as we both had, about how horrible things are. \u00a0 Time after time we\u2019d have this discussion – you\u2019re so unhappy? then why don\u2019t you leave too? –\u00a0until I realized that they were never going to leave, because in one case they still believed things would get better, or in one case they looked at the tradeoffs of finding a new job and realized that they\u2019d rather live in anger then make that change.<\/p>\n

Unhappiness and resentment will colour the work, will make you sloppy, will make you put in less effort – all the things that the article points out. \u00a0But the tipping point is when you truly give up. \u00a0Whether that\u2019s just after too much frustration, or if it\u2019s when you finally hit the ceiling, or\u00a0from seeing how others are being treated and realizing that the trend is going somewhere you can\u2019t handle? \u00a0It\u2019s still the true thing that breaks you. And when you actually break and tip over, it does even more damage, because now there\u2019s a bit of desperation too.<\/p>\n

Learning to recognize it before that breaking point – I guess that\u2019s the golden ticket isn\u2019t it? \u00a0Both in your own self, and in seeing it in those you manage. I only hope I\u2019ve gotten better at it from experiencing it myself. If not to hopefully make me a better manager, then at least\u00a0to have gotten something positive out of that experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently this article ended up coming across my social media feeds – an article about dealing with negative emotions at work, which I think is a really good read. \u00a0I know as a manager, figuring out how\u00a0to deal with employees who are dealing with something negative –\u00a0outside or inside of work is one that is […] Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[22,18],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p86peW-23","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialnerdism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}