Beware the Negative; Watch Out for the Positive!

As an educational leader, I have found the teachers' lounge to be an interesting place to listen for the culture of the school. Just sitting down and listening to the conversations among teachers provides incredible insights into the climate of the organization. After a short visit to the lounge, I was able to glean the health of the spirit, the morale, and the attitudes of the faculty and staff.

For the most part, my visits to the lounge were encouraging as I heard teachers sharing about funny experiences in the classroom, outstanding achievements of the students, interesting insights provided by student participation, and collaborative knowledge sharing regarding methodology that worked or bombed during the instructional day. I heard lots of laughter as professionals enjoyed relating to one another as kindred spirits.

But there were those situations where whining and complaining cast a dark cloud on the spirit of collegiality. Negative comments and pessimistic attitudes invaded the commitment to education to the point of despair. The sunshine of being involved in the transformational process in students' lives was eclipsed by the shadow of gloom. I could just feel the poison of complaining words infiltrating the core of the room. A little cold water can quickly put out the fire of enthusiasm. The "woe is me"s of negative thinking calls out for the misery of others. Soon the rally cry of the group is directed toward the common complaints of the community (and there are always several things worthy of comment). Negativism turns the key to depressing topics and discontentment.

The other side of the coin can be difficult as well. If a culture is created where constructive criticism and questions of concern are not permitted... where disagreements and complaints are simply not vocalized, we find an ostrich-organization with its head in the sand. Agitation and disagreements boil under the surface, but no one is brave enough to talk about the elephant in the room. When negative comments are squelched and the individual is rebuked when a concern is expressed, the facade of optimism becomes the mask of reality.

Sometimes the leader can increase the impact of the mask by putting a positive spin on negative situations. If the leader refuses to hear and really listen to the concerns of others, he/she can do a great deal of damage in the name of optimism. The wonderful songs from the musical "Annie" entitled, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," and the sun will come out "Tomorrow" reflect a nice philosophy of optimism, but oftentimes the difficulties of life must be addressed and not ignored. Turning aside a smiling face to a serious problem will not make the difficulty go away.

The balance of optimism and constructive planning is not easy to maintain, but either extreme can be painful. The challenge for the leader is to create a culture of positive movement toward a shared vision of greatness... to develop a corporate mindset of transforming that vision in order to change the world.... to inspire every employee to use his/her gifts to bring about incredible change through the mission of the organization. There needs to be an ever positive movement toward the shared vision while recognizing and enthusiastically working on difficulties. Constructive criticism is positive...whining and complaining is not. Words of death should be turned into live-giving solutions. Concerns need to be expressed to those with the power to make change, not to a group that is powerless to anything but listen with distain.

A positive spin on the negative? NO! A poison mouth filled with gloom? No way! The positive road between the two is narrow and easily derailed, but that road is such a key to creating a healthy organizational culture.

smiley/frown face credit - http://apathymyth.blogspot.com/2010/01/f-i-r-e-is-key-to-overwhelmed.html