Talking about the frustrations of work with your peers is not uncommon practice. Four out of five people believe "talking helps" to deal with problems (Behfar et al., 2018). With COVID, staffing shortages and disruption of routine, we are all facing daily work stressors that pile up. Naturally ,during times of organizational adversity, people often vent with others in an attempt to make sense of things or gain emotional relief. These venting groups can provide social support and connection. Unfortunately, more often than not, these emotionally charged conversations leave us feeling worse off then before. Believe it or not, there is numerous evidence showing that venting makes us feel worse. When the venting takes a turn and becomes a vicious cycle of shared, passive and prolonged negative discussions its called collective rumination. It is important that we recognize when this type of group think is developing because it actually impairs our ability to cope ,but also the organization's own coping mechanisms. A March 2021 article, “When ‘problem talk’ impairs organizational resilience” from the Journal of Applied Psychology by Kristin Knipfer and Barbara Kump describes collective rumination, and how it undermines organizational resilience. In the following paragraphs, the findings are summarized and additional coaching tips are provided to bring awareness and reduce development of this phenomenon.
Organizational resilience is the ability and processes to bounce back or even emerge stronger than before. Three antecedents have been identified for organization resilience: control, commitment, and challenge. These factors are important in enabling an organization to cope with, adapt, and overcome adversities. In their published article, authors Knifper and Kump refute the notion that "talking helps " in organizational adversity. Instead, they argue that this shared excessive negative talk fuels more stress, anxiety and catastrophizing. So why do we consciously or unconsciously keep getting wrapped up in the work problem talk?
In times of stress and adversity, it is not unusual for a group of peers to reach for social support, and it can foster a feeling of closeness with one another. These conversations can strengthen personal relationships- a feeling that “we are all in this together”, though they don't actually reduce the frustration, anger or anxiety. Multiple papers conclude, venting does not provide the intended relief from emotions and in fact, can strengthen negative emotions. So why do we keep seeking out others to vent with at work? Often times, positive reinforcement is created by the effects of social support with others, thus we continue to vent. Venters are known to seek out supporters who they trust and will validate their feelings.
Collective Rumination is characterized by repetitive and excessive discussion of adverse events among multiple organization members (2 or more) that centers on negative and uncontrollable aspects of the situation. Repetitive and immersive problem talk becomes contagious and creates negative shared assessments. Bias becomes reinforced and elements of complaining and blaming cause group members to lose the ability to critically reflect during discussions. Worst case scenarios become part of the common narrative. Feelings of closeness derived from problem talk serves as positive reinforcement to members to continue negative group think. Those stuck in collective rumination often don’t recognize it. Consequently, the perceptions of low control will persist and reduce commitment to the organization. Motivation diminishes with a lack of control and naturally the group feels demoralized. Feelings of despair that “we can’t do anything about it anyway” are created. Ultimately, collective rumination diminishes group members sense of control, commitment to action, and acceptance of the situation as a challenge (Brueller et al., 2019).
Once again, collective rumination causes you and its members to feel:
· Emotionally exhausted
· Cognitively depleted
· Hopeless
· Demoralized
· Disengaged and disinterested
· Stronger negative emotion
What can you do as a listener among venters or ruminators?
1. Recognize if you are contributing to the collective rumination. Though you may be looking for emotional relief by expressing your frustrations, worries or anger, the persistent excessive conversations will leave you feeling worse. Tap into your emotional intelligence and be aware of ruminating thoughts. Notice what or who triggers you.
2. Strengthen your feeling of control. Consider what things you can control and shift to what opportunities on a smaller scale you can impact. Blamers attribute control to someone external such as top management and overlook the opportunities when they can change the situation themselves. Manage your mind and recognize you can choose how you think, feel and act in each moment.
3. Consider your values and the purpose of your work. Find areas where you can play out those motivators and natural strengths. Place less emphasis on the circumstance and more on how you choose to think. What talents and strengths in the past have you called on to overcome adversity. Those with growth mindset do this more naturally. Be curious about what can be learned and how you got here.
4. Be the challenge listener. Help others regain control. Literature shows that a challenge listener provides insights and encourages venters to rethink things. This skill is critical for both organizational resilience and prevention of burnout. Redirect the conversation toward a more solution-focused discussion. Be the challenger in the discussion that shows fairness to both side of the arguments. This first requires you have your own self awareness in the conversations and identify what assumptions and bias are at play.
5. Shifting problem talk to solution talk requires a hopeful, future oriented discussion. Consider reframing adversity from threat to challenge. Most importantly, these conversations will then serve as positive impacts to provide emotional relief and hope. When people view adversity as a threat, they are more resistant and hold onto what is safe and known. This reduces agility, creativity and increases pessimism. It shuts down our cognitive abilities.
In summary, collective rumination creates a mutual contagion leaving you hopeless and frustrated and it is killing the ability of organizations to be resilient in a time of adversity. During this time of COVID, staffing shortages and deconstruction of our routines, it is imperative that we consider how we are responding to adversity. This requires flexing those muscles of emotional intelligence and self awareness and leadership from every chair. Recognition of what you can control is important in protecting yourself from burnout and also renews your energy for reinventing or reframing the stories you tell yourself about situation. Leaders with strong storytelling skills can help others find hope and inspiration to stay the course. You can help yourself and your organization's resilience by first recognizing when venting becomes excessive problem talk.
Be a challenge listener to others. Provide compassion , but don't just validate their feelings. Challenge them to rethink and reassess their reaction to the frustrating or adverse event. Literature shows this will be more psychologically helpful to them in finding both emotional relief and a solution to the stressor. I want to charge everyone with finding control, commitment and a focus on adversity as a challenge. Create helfpul conversations using future-focused, hopeful and positive language to help turn problem talk into solution talk. This is how you begin leading in medicine.
Resources:
Knipfer, K., Kump, B., (2021)Collective rumination: When “problem talk” impairs organizational resilience , Applied Psychology March 2021
Baer, M. D., Rodell, J. B., Dhensa-Kahlon, R. K., Colquitt, J. A., Zipay, K. P., Burgess, R., & Outlaw, R. (2018). Pacification or aggravation? The effects of talking about supervisor unfairness. Academy of Management Journal, 61(5), 1764–1788
Brueller (PDF) Interorganizational Relationships in Times of Decline: Implications for Organizational Resilience (researchgate.net) Applied Psychology 68(4), November 2018
Behfar et al. (2018),Realizing the Upside of Venting: The Role of the “Challenger Listener” | Academy of Management Discoveries (aom.org), Academy of Management Discoveries 2020, Vol. 6, No. 4, 609–630
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