We have all heard of “Instagram vs reality” but what is the impact of positive negativity within the workplace?

Disregarding genuine feelings and masking them with positivity can have a ripple effect within an organisation. Impacting massively on the culture of a workplace and employee well-being. Mental Health America found that 83% of employees feel emotionally drained from work, indicating that one factor could be that they are surrounded by a culture that promotes constant positivity – which in turn denies any space for emotional expression.  Without feeling safe to express your emotions and concerns within a workplace can lead to burnout, recent Gallop research found that 76% of employees experience burnout at some point of their career.

How to spot positive negativity within your workplace.

• Employee silence: employees are unlikely to be forthcoming with feedback, especially if it is negative as they fear it will be brushed off with a “just be positive” mindset. “Don’t worry everything happens for a reason”
• Supressed negative emotions: You may notice employees feeling more anxious or stressed due to the lack of receptiveness when it comes to opening up about their true emotions.
• Lack of innovation: By remaining positive you are likely to miss out on challenging and difficult conversations, this stifles creativity and innovation. Teams are less likely to challenge one another or propose new ideas if they are not free to express their true feelings.

5 ways to break the smile:

1. Foster emotional intelligence: encourage your leaders to develop deep levels of emotional intelligence, allow them to recognise and validate their own feelings and emotions so they can do the same for others. Provide training to aid this development.
2. Encourage open communication: promote a healthy workplace by having open and honest communication among peers. Allow employees to challenge decisions and listen to their justification. They will in turn open up about their challenges, setbacks and stresses. Provide space for this open communication and actually LISTEN.
3. Balanced leadership: encourage leaders to be open, ask them not to mask their own problems, by modelling vulnerability and authenticity and acknowledging their own challenges will allow for collaboration and solutions.
4. Mindset:  Let’s rephrase “It’s fine, keep smiling” to “yes this is tough, but we can work through it” emphasis on the WE, working as a team to find solutions.
5. Acknowledge negative emotions: if we can’t recognise them, we can’t manage them, and not managing them will lead to burnout and stress.

Be authentic. Be honest. Be open.

Author: Naomi Fenn-Mansfield