1. Fountain of Negativity
Team Leader Training
Fountain of Negativity
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2. Fountain of Negativity
Sue was recently made Team Leader of a unit where she served as GS-13 for only a year. Now her research team is composed of colleagues who were recently her peers. She feels that she has made a smooth transition to this new role and most of her team has adapted well. In fact, she is quite proud of the collaborative and supportive atmosphere she has created….with one exception. A senior researcher on her team isn’t being especially supportive of the collaborative environment she is working to create. While he is respectful, in team meetings he loves to play the role of “Devil’s Advocate.” In other words, it appears to Sue that he finds fault with almost every comment, idea, and suggestion. The researcher has taken this to the extreme and has become a fountain of negativity. His persistent pessimism has really brought down the excitement and energy of team meetings. It’s difficult to motivate the team to be excited about upcoming research projects when he is always picking them apart. He is not a bad researcher and does a good job on his projects.

3. Q1. How should Sue address the situation?
Question & Answer Session
Q1. How should Sue address the situation?

4. Q2. How might the negative researcher be perceiving the situation?
Question & Answer Session
Q2. How might the negative researcher be perceiving the situation?

5. Fountain of Negativity (Continued)
Sue goes to her chief and explains the situation to her. She tells her that the relationship has become damaging to the team and that she needs to intervene on her behalf. The chief talks with the researcher, and the meeting seems to go well. However, after this meeting the researcher becomes openly hostile towards Sue, though he is careful not to do anything to jeopardize his job.

6. Q3. What, if anything, did Sue do right?
Question & Answer Session
Q3. What, if anything, did Sue do right?

7. Question & Answer Session
Q4. Where did she go wrong?

8. Lessons Learned, Slide 1 of 2
Good moves: Sue was correct to notice that the situation needed to be addressed. Negative attitudes hurt the morale of the team and make others less likely to contribute ideas as they will inevitably be shot down.
Not-so-good moves: Before going to the chief, she should have attempted to address this directly with the researcher. While that may not have been effective, it should have been her first stop if for nothing more than procedural justice perceptions. It is possible that he is unaware of how this is being perceived and affecting the team. Most importantly, she should have asked the researcher to consider how his behavior impacts others. Ask the researcher to take her perspective or that of the team.

9. Lessons Learned, Slide 2 of 2
Set expectations among your subordinates regarding suitable conduct.
Move quickly in confronting a problem subordinate. Identify and address the problem before it has time to get worse.
Have the courage to confront the subordinate directly, before asking someone else to intervene on your behalf.
Spend time solving the real underlying problem instead of just repairing symptoms.
Encourage subordinates to consider their behavior from others’ perspectives.
Themes
Conflict Management; Developing Subordinates; Perspective Taking; Setting Expectations