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Summary: Whining in the workplace can be damaging to productivity and morale.
Key Take Aways:
- Whining can create stress in the office which disrupts learning, memory and performance.
- There are a number of approaches for managing whiners.
About 18% of U.S. employees are unengaged, likely to complain about their employers or negative, indicated a Gallup poll which surveyed 31,265 people. (Source: Wall Street Journal) Whining in the workplace doesn't only impact the moods of the whiners. It can spread to their co-workers as well. Stanford University Robert Sapolsky said when workers consistently encounter negativity from their peers their memory, learning and judgement can be disrupted. (Stress apparently can shrink the hippocampus, a part of the brain that can produce new brain cells.)
One source goes as far as suggesting whiners should be isolated from other workers to prevent them from making their peers feel bad in the workplace. This same article recommends a number of interventions, including outside counseling for those who whine too much.
Another approach is to help the whiners to help themselves out of the destructive habit, because they will experience more satisfaction if they solve their own problems. The potential benefit of the coaching approach is that employees then will learn to identify and address their own problems, instead of only complaining and blaming.
Another strategy to reduce whining is to set clear expectations for accountability, communication, stress and reward. At times employees may whine because they don't perceive enough structure in their role or environment so they become anxious and vent. Setting expectations for their behavior and communicating that to them can reduce this anxiety and their whining.
A psychological approach to dealing with whining emphasizes that it is caused by errors in thinking. Magnification, (blowing things out of proportion), personalizing (taking non-personal situations personally) blaming ( not being accountable for one's own actions) and a number of other thought distortions contribute to a lack of perspective in the workplace. This lack of perspective can make it very difficult for employees to focus on their concrete every day tasks, and waste energy.
Because of the complexity involved with each whining situation, meaning personality, work culture and so forth, it might be necessary to try a number of different things or combine them.
Image Credit: Nyttend, Public Domain
