What is a Negaholic?

I know it sounds comical, but yes it is an actual word. As published in Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English (v 0.9.7), a negaholic is defined as "a person who thoroughly enjoys a negative or pessimistic outlook; completely negative or pessimistic".

When I first heard the term, I must admit, it made me laugh. But it is a brilliant word that describes people we all know who destroy vision, create turmoil within teams and attempt to recruit others into their circle of negativity. They thrive in situations rich with opportunity and work hard to uncover chances to point out their negative views. They never see opportunities. They only see worse case scenario. They turn potential into risk. They transform entrepreneurial spirit into doubt and fear. They are most commonly known as those who constantly view the glass as half empty.

Like a person with the flu, negaholics are highly contagious. Their negativity spreads rapidly and can easily be transmitted to others. Like a sick person coughing and spreading germs in your office, negaholics must be stopped. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry has yet to develop a medication that treats negaholism.

Now don't get me wrong, we all have negative thoughts and at times may appear to be cynical. We all have bad days. The difference is a negaholic stands out amongst everyone. They always have something to say and it is always pessimistic in nature. They are easy to identify by their negative outlook on everything and constant pessimism in every situation. They will find the fault in everything.

Negaholics are most dangerous in a business environment, specifically within a sales team. In a business environment, negaholics are detrimental to the success of a company and often bring others into their gloomy world with repetitive negativity. The biggest risk a negaholic poses is their ability to spread their ideas and mindset to others and impact morale within an organization. A generally optimistic person can easily be influenced when in the presence of constant negativity. There is nothing worse that can happen within a team than the spread of poor attitudes, which then cause decreases in productivity, morale and overall performance. So what do we do? We all know a negaholic or two, how do we stop them?

You can try to coach them. You can try to teach them how to look for the positive in every situation. You can point out positives before they find the negatives. You can work with them to try and understand their way of thinking. You can help them understand the impact their attitude has on others. You can even go to extremes and have a strict no negativity policy and deal with each incident aggressively. I highly recommend trying all of the above to ensure the person is not just in a rut, but remember that some will never change. The best approach is to manage the impact and when appropriate remove them from situations where they pose a serious risk to your business or the success of others. The bottom line is there is no place for negaholics in sales and business. The impact of their attitude and actions will destroy morale and eventually cause serious problems that will last much longer than their tenure at your company.

Christopher Thompson is the Founder and President of Catch 22 Solutions, a sales performance consulting company and a former Director of Sales at PC Connection, Inc. For more information visit http://www.catch22solutions.com