Dealing With Chronic Complainers

Working around a chronic complainer is annoying and exhausting.

- John Pereira

You know the character—nothing pleases them, and they find fault in management’s every utterance, implicitly suggesting the people in charge are operating with a fatal deficiency of intelligence and common sense. There’s nothing new in the workplace that escapes this critic’s eyes, and they are comfortable sharing their caustic commentary with anyone below the management level.

They seem to thrive on the negative work-talk and are like moths to light with anyone who will listen.

Effective managers work quickly to stop these characters before the damage to morale spreads and threatens the team’s working environment. And like every management situation, there are right and wrong approaches for dealing with difficult people. These tips will help you find the best approach to deal with chronic complainers.

Don’t Minimize the Potential Damage From Chronic Complainers:

These not-so-silent saboteurs operating mostly below the management levels of the organization are comparable to that slow drip from the leaky water pipe in the ceiling. For awhile, the drops of water don’t do much damage, but over time, they are capable of creating a stain or even bringing the ceiling down.

The chronic complainer infects the working environment by spreading negativity and creating doubt in the minds of team members.

For managers and team members striving to implement a new program or policy, this subtle but aggressive behavior gets in the way of driving positive change.

Avoid These Two Approaches to Dealing With the Chronic Complainers:

Two methods commonly applied to dealing with chronic complainers include:

1. Attempting to win them over by selling them in advance on your ideas.

2. Ignoring the issue and relegating the steady cadence of complaints to background noise.