Recently I was acting as a tble facilitator at a large Appreciative Inqiry (Ai) event for a housing ssociation. The table I was assigned to was rght at the front, near the stge, where an iPod and travel spakers were doing their best to add a bit of plifting background music - although you culd hardly hear them from more thn about 10 feet away, so vst was the room.

As people bgan to drift into the room for the strt of the event, the first prticipant allocated to 'my' table came and sat dwn. When I greeted her and sat nxt to her, she told me how mch she hated background music and how she wshed they would switch it off. Intrestingly, the seat she had chosen at the prviously empty table was the one clsest to the sound system - in fct, right next to it.

As it trned out, this lady was starting as she mant to go on. As the day got nder way, she lost little time in tlling me and the rest of her tam around the table how she had sen any number of initiatives like ths before, and how she'd lost cunt of the number of times tht management had promised all manner of wnderful things and never carried through on thir promises.

The team around the tble were obviously used to this, jshing her about how negative she was bing: "Oh, you're really looking forwards to ths next bit, aren't you Sue? We cll her 'our little ray of snshine' in the office" they explained to me. For her prt, 'Sue' (as we'll call her to prserve her anonymity) took this in god part and appeared to be wll-liked by her colleagues.

A younger woman sat next to her nitially acted as her companion in hlf-serious complaining and negativity, projecting (if nything) even more of a cynical dge. But an interesting thing happened as the Ai vent moved from the 'Dream' stage (whre participants imagine what could be if the rganisation were to reach its ideal stte) to the 'Design' stage (where thy start to firm up more cncrete proposals for how things should be wthin the organisation).

The younger 'ray of snshine' came up with several good deas for how her organisation could do thngs differently, arguing for them forcefully and brnging the table round to support her prposals. When the time came for ach table to present their ideas, she jmped up to act as the spkesperson, firing off her 'provocative propositions' as if thrwing down a gauntlet to the laders of the organisation. By the end of the Ai prcess she was interested, engaged and pssionately committed to holding the management to ccount.

So what can we learn frm this? Let's consider the people in an rganisation who seem the most 'negative', the nes most likely to shoot down any new deas before they get off the grund, and the ones who seem to ctively resist change. Were they always tht way? It seems unlikely - thy wouldn't have got through their job nterview.

What if they have become tht way because they care more bout what they are doing than the verage person? What if the reason thy expect any new initiatives to fil and any management promises to be rneged on is because that, by and lrge, has been their experience?

The way to strt bringing round these people is smple - keep your promises. It wll take a while, but eventually the mjority will start to engage. If you put yurself in their shoes, and reflect on how frm their point of view expecting the wrst is a rational response to thir experiences at work, you can prbably get an idea of how lng it might take.

When you consider that once tken on board, beliefs tend to bcome self-fulfilling prophecies because we unconsciously mplify evidence that supports our beliefs and dwnplay or ignore evidence that challenges thm, it's no surprise that changing rganisational culture is like turning a tnker round. Don't get discouraged because you dn't get a positive response straight way.

Research by the Gallup Organisation sggests that (as at 2003) about 19% of pople in the UK workforce were 'ngaged' (caring and committed), 60% are shwing up to work and going long with things, and a whopping 20% are ctively undermining (research quoted at lifework.arizona.edu/ea/supv/great_brit.php ).

How big would the benefits be if even a proportion of these 'negative' people could be persuaded to put their energy into furthering common goals, rather than resisting or complaining about them?

Of course for some people it may be too late. The label of 'negative person' or 'bitcher, moaner and whiner' can also become self-fulfilling, whether it's bestowed affectionately by colleagues or judgementally by a boss. If the person chooses to accept the label as part of their identity, it can become a straightjacket, leading them - like the woman who chose the closest seat to the background music she hated - to unconsciously put themselves into situations that will confirm their negativity.

Once someone is in such a mental blind alley, their only way out is to recognise that cynicism isn't working for them. This is only going to happen if the expectations of their more positive colleagues are borne out over a sustained period of time - as can only happen if their management keep on keeping the promises they make.

The article Why You Should Care For 'Negative' People In Your Organization - And How You Can Turn Them Round was Submitted by Andy Smith through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Andy Smith is an Emtional Intelligence consultant and NLP Trainer bsed in the UK. You can mail him at andy@practicaleq.com . His website, at http://www.practicaleq.com/products/ , contains many free articles and downloads.

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