How to Respond to a Negative Situation

How to Respond to a Negative Situation

The sad truth is that "Life ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It can be a very mean and nasty place".

You often need to negotiate with a person who is giving you highly emotionalised negative feedback.

In real life, practically nobody uses the words, "Negative feedback". Instead they use other words to describe the same thing.

• Arguments
• Failure
• Breakdowns
• Criticism
• Rejection
• Defeat
• Blame
• Complaints
• Conflicts

And these negative situations tend to generate the corresponding negative emotions in both parties.

• Anger
• Upset
• Annoyance
• Frustration
• Stress
• Tears and
• Tantrums

If you are to make progress, you will need to know how to handle these negative emotions, (both yours and theirs). You need to move quickly to resolve the negative issue and to restore the relationship back to its original congenial state.

How would you do that?

In order to achieve these goals, you need to learn the following model:

Five steps to an experience

Your personal experience of any situation is not one thing. It is composed of five things fused together. Your personal experience of any event is process consisting of five parts.

1. The objective facts of reality.
2. The evidence of the facts as revealed by your five senses.
3. The identification of the facts (or perhaps the MIS-identification of the facts).
4. The subjective evaluation of the (mis) identified facts.
5. Your emotional response to your "evaluation of the facts".

There are therefore two major sets.

1. The objective set (comprising of the facts as identified by direct sense perception).
2. The subjective set (comprising of the evaluations, opinions and judgements you make and your emotional responses to them).

Distinguish between the two forms of language; objective and subjective

Objective language

Objective language is the language of facts as revealed by direct sensory evidence and primary perception.

It is non-opinionated; non-evaluative; non-judgemental; non-emotional.

Subjective language

Subjective language is the opposite: it is the language of opinions, evaluations and judgements; it is highly emotionalised; it is about your personal feelings.

When people are in a negative state, they generally start their communication at the extreme right-hand side of the above model; by verbalising their negative emotions, derogatory opinions and by using highly subjective language.

Responding to Negative Situation Summary

Your task is to:

1. Listen to their negative emotions and derogatory opinions without interruption.
2. Empathise with them (without necessarily agreeing with anything).
3. Separate the facts from their feelings.
4. Separate the facts from their opinions.
5. Act only on the evidence of the objective facts.
6. Base your responses on a logical evaluation of all the available evidence of the facts.
7. Recognise that emotions, have NO power to change the facts.

About the Author: Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.

Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.

Blogs by Email

Do you want to receive an email whenever we post a new blog? The blogs contain article 5-10 minutes long - ideal for reading during your coffee break!

Further Reading in Personal Effectiveness

• How Can I Improve My Performance at Work?
  If you want your career to progress, you need to improve your performance at work. Find ways to add more value to more people, and you will succeed.
  Read Article >
• The Mind-Body Connection
  The mind and body often seen as separate, are integral parts of our being. Actions guided by the mind influence the body and vice versa. To change feelings, change actions; acting confident fosters confidence. Similarly acting happy can improve mood.
  Read Article >
• Actualising Potential: The Power of Purposeful Practice
  Each person holds distinct talents and untapped potential. Yet, realising true mastery goes beyond innate abilities. It entails intentional, purposeful, and diligent practice.
  Read Article >
• Emotional Intelligence
  Emotional intelligence is the ability to empathise, or understand and appreciate how another person feels, given their context. Learn how to develop your emotional intelligence.
  Read Article >
• How to make the most of your journey to work
  Commuting to work can be tedious and mind-numbingly boring. So, we have put together some suggestions on how you can make the most of your down time stuck in traffic, or waiting for the train. Use your down time to improve yourself.
  Read Article >

Looking for Personal Development Training?

If you're looking to develop your Personal Effectiveness Skills, you may find this Personal Development Training Course beneficial:

Open Training Course Pricing and Availability

Next Open Course Starts in 4 days, London - Central, places available Book Now >