Inevitably, everyone vents at work when the stresses and frustrations get to be too much to hold it in inside. When you reach that breaking point, you’ll often vent your emotions to whichever co-worker is around you. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence, because venting is quite natural, even for those who love their job and colleagues. It’s an easy way to blow off steam, and there are bound to be frustrations that arise on projects and with deadlines.
However, just because venting is natural and a common occurrence, it doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing. When someone is constantly venting, it creates an atmosphere of negativity and can bring down your colleagues’ moods and outlook as well. In addition to this, venting is disruptive to the workplace, reduces productivity even more, and can even make you annoying to your colleagues. Therefore, we’ve prepared a handy guide that will help you turn your workplace venting into a productive activity.
1. Reduce Your Venting’s Impact On Colleagues.
Think about how you want others to perceive you at work. Do you want others to think of you as a leader, a positive, creative, and intelligent person? No matter what your career goals are, it’s extremely important that you avoid being seen as a complainer. However, that’s what people will think if you’re constantly venting to every persona that walks by your cubicle or your desk. Also, the last thing you should want is for your work environment to become negative and see your toxic attitude spread to those around you.
If you need to vent, it must keep the impact of the negativity to as small an area as possible. Keep it to a minimum, and don’t vent to the same colleagues every time, or in an open-plan office where everyone can hear what you’re saying. Another option is to create boundaries and limitations on your venting. For example, Tara Beale, a recruiter at State of writing and Essay roo says to “have a deal with a work friend where you can only vent if you make the effort to walk to the other person’s office and shut the door to vent in privacy. You will think twice about making the trip to bother them in their office, but at least if you need to it will be in private.”
2. Speak With A Colleague.
Similarly to the previous point, it’s important to get support from a colleague for these instances. You should let your colleague know that you want their support but also their point of view as you talk through what is frustrating you. When you ask for feedback, it makes a negative experience focused on the future to find out with help from a calmer colleague what your next action should be.
3. Spend The Equivalent Time On The Solution.
One of the main problems with venting is that after you’re done venting, no matter how long you’ve spent on it, nothing will have changed unless you think of a solution. However, venting isn’t about coming up with a solution, it’s about letting off steam. If you find yourself with a colleague venting about something, take the same amount of time to think about how you can fix what is causing you frustration.
4. Keep The Positives In Mind.
It’s a lot easier to be negative about things going on than to find positive things to praise.
Instead of being negative, take some time to make yourself notice and talk about things that are positive in your workspace.
Challenge yourself to observe everything that’s good around you, like a good job that a colleague did on a project or a great meeting you attended. You’ll become seen as a more positive person and you’ll find that your whole outlook changes about the negative things, which seem minor in comparison.
5. Write It All Out.
As per Francesca Campellini, a career advisor at UK Writings and Revieweal, “write down what’s stressing you out in a journal. You will better understand what’s triggering you and how to avoid them or rise above it. Write it down, and reflect on how to best approach each situation.”
The real cost of a disengaged construction workforce — or any workforce really — is higher than you would imagine. So make sure you start by following these steps, you’ll be able to turn the negative experience of venting into a more productive activity that benefits you and the workplace.
Ellie Coverdale is a career writer with Big Assignments and Ox Essays. She writes about many topics from online marketing to lifestyle and wellness tips for her readers. She is particularly fascinated by finding different ways to balance work and home lives. Ellie also teaches important writing classes at Elite Assignment Help.
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