The series on Manager Mindsets continues with a discussion of Pessimism. As managers we are meant to plan ahead and be prepared for what might happen. Some of which, naturally, means considering bad possibilities and trying to avoid them. We also need to make sense of what is going on around us.

But what happens if our mindset is fixated on negative outcomes? What is the impact to ourselves and our team?

0:30 Pilar has trained herself out of preparing for the worst. Instead she thinks “If that happens, I’ll deal with it then”.

2:40 Tim has a pessimistic tendency although he thinks of himself as having a positive mindset. For many years he would be waiting for something bad to happen, even when things were going well.

4:30 The ability to see problems or potential problems can be a superpower, especially at work.

5:30 We define pessimism as interpreting current or future events as having a negative outcome versus a positive outcome. Interestingly Pilar considers herself more of a “current optimist” but “future pessimist” – she usually sees good things in the present but when thinking about the future she sees what could go wrong.

7:30 Pilar sees this as survival instinct, that things will probably be ok but she wants to be prepared in base it isn’t ok. As Tim highlights, this is a healthy balance. Pilar balances her capacity for pessimism (what could go wrong) with her self-belief (it will probably be ok) to feel more comfortable and ready for the future.

9:00 Tim argues that the pessimism mindset can apply to in past, present or future events. We can choose to a negative or positive interpretation of something that has happened in the past. Or that is happening right now.

10:15 Pilar shares her experience of re-wiring her pessimistic tendency. She became aware that focussing on negative outcomes was blocking her. And started to recognise it was often because she didn’t have enough information. So she taught herself to stop and ask for more context. Which sometimes dissolves the pessimism.

11:25 Often pessimism comes from our discomfort with uncertainty. Tim shares how he still struggles with new ideas (from someone else) and only sees the problems with them until he’s had enough time to feel comfortable.

13:00 Our hosts talk about the impact that a pessimistic leader has on their work environment. What does it mean for a team if their manager always sees the worst in things?

13:45 Pilar shares a story of her husband struggling with a pessimistic boss and how rather than becoming infected by negativity himself, he adapted. He understood that it took his boss time to accept new ideas.

15:30 Tim’s experience has been a bit different. He has found it tiring working with pessimists and can, over time, start to tune them out. Ironically this is a problem which a pessimist should worry about. Their strength of seeing potential issues can turn into a weakness because they can no longer communicate them effectively.

17:00 Managers have a bunch of tools at their disposal but need to vary their approach. If they overuse one tool (like pessimism) it becomes ineffective.

18:00 As Managers we should be aware that pessimism, whether in ourselves or in those we manage, can lead to people being “tuned out”. If we are aware then we can take action before this happens. For example when you are brainstorming or fleshing out a concept, people who see potential problems can be immensely valuable.

19:45 Pilar reminds us that well balanced pessimism can be healthy. Because not everything goes according to plan.

21:00 We close the conversation by learning that Tim is a pessimistic optimist and Pilar is a realist.

What about you, dear listener? Do you find a pessimistic mindset helpful or harmful in your management practice? We’d love to hear from you!

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