There have been a ton of posts, articles and segments recently about removing the negative influences in your life.  The general theme is that you will have a simpler, more productive life if you can eliminate the negativity and increase the positive energy in your life.  While I agree that “mean people suck”, it is impossible for a leader to remove all dealings with people who are not 100% positive.

A leader must choose what is best for their team as whole and as individuals.  These decisions will not be universally liked and people will complain.   And people on your team may be great performers but not have sunny dispositions.  The key for a leader is to handle the negativity when it falls into a few different buckets:

1.       It affects your team’s morale or performance.  When the negativity affects how the team performs, the issue needs to be addressed directly and without emotion or bias.  Speak to the individuals who are causing the issue first then the rest of the team.

2.       It comes from inside of your company but outside of your team.  If a co-manager or a boss are increasingly negative towards your team, it needs to be handled right away.  Otherwise, it will spread across teams and become companywide.  This happens a lot during management changes and acquisitions.

3.       It comes from your clients or vendors.  When your key stakeholders- either the revenue generators of your company or the material suppliers- are negative towards your team, you need to get to the root of the issues immediately.  Any interruption in supply or demand will adversely affect the performance of your team and company.

These issues are company killers once the negative energy starts to build.  As a true leader, you need to become the chief problem solver for your team and make the relationships harmonious again.  But as you well know, the issues are endless.

Once these issues are handled and you still have chronic naysayers, you may need to replace them regardless of performance.  After all, you can only have so much negativity in your life!