No one wants to work with a “Negative Nelly.” Over my last several years I’ve had the pleasure of working at multiple locations and it has given me the opportunity to compare managers from one place to another. Unfortunately, I’m seeing a trend with female managers and it is one that makes me grind my teeth while I smile politely back at them. Therefore, let the record show that I’m doing my due diligence in notifying you that no one wants to work with you when you’re negative. As a matter of fact, I’m joining the guys on this one. It makes me cringe when you walk in the door complaining at the beginning of your shift, shoot off a snarky email reply to me or roll your eyes every time you have to actually do your job. I’m sorry, but it needed to be said.
I will also point out that some of the gals aren’t alone in committing this crime. I’ve worked with a fair share of men that were the same way. When you work with people on a team that have a negative outlook on almost every aspect of their job it is hard to want to include them. For those of us who refuse to let you bring us down, this trait tends to push us all away from you and keep us as far away as possible. Quite frankly it’s because we rather keep on working our day-to-day tasks as if you’re not sitting in the corner complaining. I’m not exactly sure who told you that this was an attractive trait to possess as a manager, or even in life to be frank, but I’m here on behalf of all of those you work with to let you know that it’s not becoming of you in the least.
We preferred when you were an integral part of the team with positive suggestions on how we can tackle the tough situations we are facing. Your scoffing in meetings hasn’t been quite as helpful with solving solutions as you thought, so if you could return tomorrow wearing your thinking cap and a smile it would be greatly appreciated. Look gang, we all have it tough at work and the idea of having a team is that we can work more efficiently if we all work together. Well, realize that if you elect to be the “Negative Nelly” of the group then you’re pulling us all down and lessening our chances of being effective as a management team.
We all work together so that our employer can capitalize on our strengths and therefore you must have one deep down inside that they saw when they first interviewed you. Let’s try to start off this New Year by kicking the negative attitude to the side and remembering why we were all brought together as a team. Show up ready to work as a member of the team and we’ll be glad to welcome you back. Work can be rough, so let us not make it harder than it already is.