{"id":4566,"date":"2010-11-26T13:01:12","date_gmt":"2010-11-26T18:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"\/news_blogs\/john\/?p=4566"},"modified":"2024-09-25T08:26:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T12:26:05","slug":"pessimism-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/john\/2010\/11\/26\/pessimism-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Pessimism in the Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Always borrow from a pessimist\u2014they never expect to get it back!<\/em>
(An old joke.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Optimism and resilience are key leadership characteristics, so successful leaders might have a hard time understanding pessimism. I read somewhere that you won’t see any statues erected to honour pessimists because, as Helen Keller said, “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” Why, according to The Optimist’s Guide to History<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0optimists even led the way in coining the\u00a0word optimist<\/em> to distinguish those\u00a0who\u00a0see the sunny side of life from those who always carry an umbrella. As usual, pessimists waited until an optimist showed that it could be done, and it\u00a0only took\u00a080 years after the word optimist<\/em> entered our lexicon for\u00a0pessimists to create the word pessimist<\/em>. Or more likely, an optimist did it for them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People become leaders precisely because they are optimists and think that something can be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is our duty as human beings to proceed as though the limits of our capabilities did not exist.
<\/em>Pierre Teilhard de Chardin<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Pessimists can do well enough what has already been done, doing more of it, but to create opportunity and move forward most often takes an optimist. Why is this so? It is because optimists\u00a0have high levels of self-efficacy, the belief that they have the capability\u00a0to exercise influence<\/em> over events that affect their lives. (Note I did not say control<\/em>.) Without this, there is no reason to try anything new.\u00a0 Winston Churchill was a man of great self-efficacy who explained his success saying, “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” You only keep going like Churchill did because you believe you have the capability to shape the results. Pessimists tend to have low levels of self-efficacy, often resulting from a negative expectation bias, a focus on past failures, and\/or an avoidance of challenges (because they expect failure). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for writing about this is that virtually every group of people will have both optimists and pessimists in it and the leader is almost guaranteed to be an optimist. It would be nice to have people of high self-efficacy at every level in the organization because that enables you to empower staff and substantially reduce if not eliminate\u00a0your supervision of those people<\/a>. But the reality is that\u00a0just as there will always be the poor among us this side of heaven, so there will always be pessimists among us this side of heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reality creates a natural clash of views between optimists and pessimists over what the ministry can accomplish. You, as the optimistic leader, have to learn how to deal with pessimism and, as we shall see in my upcoming post on truth-telling at work<\/a>, there is a bright side to having pessimists in your midst because they have much to contribute to the success of your ministry. Now that is written by a true optimist!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must admit that I find pessimism very depressing because I believe so much that everyone<\/em> can become much stronger than they currently are and it really saddens me when people don’t believe in their own abilities or the group’s abilities as much as I believe in their actual and potential abilities. My outlook on life is one of blessing, gifting and equipping. That doesn’t make life easy, I have my difficulties, but it does mean that I truly believe we are all capable of shaping the future and the environment around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sincerely believe that every person could have high levels of self-efficacy if they merely started to test what their limits truly are. Sure, if you try right away to lift 200 pounds you might not have the muscles to do it. But if you start with 25 pounds, you will likely be successful and you will be building your muscles. Over time, you can build your muscles up so that you will some day be able to lift the 200 pounds. What was once impossible became possible. So when people have a pessimistic outlook, I feel quite bad that they have already given up. What kept those three boys alive for 50 days on the open ocean<\/a>? Why didn’t they just drown themselves to end their suffering? Why didn’t Job follow his wife’s advice to “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9)? Because they were optimists and had hope. Job declared, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives…even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pessimists, let me help you out a bit. If all you can do is believe for a little, then believe for a little and let the result build your faith to believe for more. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” is a pretty good truism. I also like Mark 9:24 where the father wants a miraculous healing for his son, but has doubts. He said to Jesus, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” What a great attitude! We must also remember Jesus’ promise in Matthew 17:20 that, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, \u2018Move from here to there,\u2019 and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.\u201d That promise has to be responsibly interpreted of course, but the basic idea is pretty clear. Start with whatever faith you have and do something, anything, to use<\/em> it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As leaders, we can help staff increase their feeling of self-efficacy by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n