Thoughts on: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

I am one of those "glass half full" people. Sometimes that works against people like me but it is who I am and I like it.

Optimists lead with trust before they really even know a person. A downside can occur when they hang on to a concept or a person too long. They are open to being duped and therefore need to counter balance with intuition and management over site. If you are still honing your craft, that may be problematic until you get that wisdom thing working for you. (See Thoughts On Wisdom blog.) The upside is they establish relationships quickly, delegate, teach and develop people more (because they trust and like that role). In general they tend to get more stuff done because the team pitches in to assist, facilitate or do the work for them (because they know how...see Thoughts on Leadership). There is also a multiplier affect because optimists experiment more. Failure is not something they fear and so more projects get launched. Imagine a pessimistic inventor. Duh, that ain't gonna work.

Now to the dark side. Da Da Daaaaaaaa!

Pessimists spew a form of office poison. They shut people down and kill innovation. It spreads like a weed choking everything else out. It is highly contagious to the inexperienced persons around them and has to be dealt with firmly and quickly. Oh, and this may surprise you, often these people are your work horses, and are kept on because they are the only ones that know how to do things (because they don't share or teach). They bully and tell the boss they are speaking for everyone. They loath change and resist it both overtly and covertly. They are sneaky and like the dark. They often say they love what they do but when you are not around, they embellish the negative and undermine you. Another problem...sometimes they are stealthy only because they are the quiet type of mice who are just doing what they learned from the negativity leader. Hint - You can typically rehabilitate the quiet mice, they are followers not the leaders.

So what's the take away on this?

Allow the optimists to experiment but....mentor them in the ways of the Jedi at the same time. Allow them to trip but not to fall down five floors. You can't learn to ride a bicycle by looking at it! Celebrate the successes and laugh off the failures. (The pessimist would be quickly crafting a stern policy memo banning such things forever.) Show the team you like this quick moving style of experimentation and innovation. More things will start up and more things will get done quicker.

And the pessimists?

Coach them up or coach them out quickly. When they say they are speaking for the group, firmly tell them, no they do not. I have called many a bully on this by telling the others to come forward if they have a concern. They will invent reasons why something can't happen. If it is not illegal or immoral and it seems like a good idea then shut that negative person down and let the dogs run. If the end result is you had to coach them out, you will find there is suddenly oxygen in the room again when that occurs. The day they leave, your staff will give a collective sigh of relief. Before long you will notice that the optimists taking centre stage and moving you forward in such an effortless manner.

Hey, I see gloomy clouds out my window right now. Cool! We can use the rain.

Ian

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Waiver of Liability - I really just make this stuff up. No animals were harmed in the process of developing this blog. This blog is gluten free.