BY JERROD VANLANDINGHAM
I was off duty and having a conversation with one of my firefighters over a beer on St. Patrick’s Day. He was telling a story of how he had worked an overtime shift recently with a different crew out of our firehouse. This crew has a pretty good reputation for being one of the most negative crews in the department. They seem to always be able to find something to complain about.
After the first 30 minutes of the shift, my firefighter found himself with a constant wrinkle in his forehead, his lips pursed, his arms crossed, and he was staring onto the floor because of all the negativity being thrown around at the coffee table. He said he couldn’t even remember the topic on the table, just that he was getting more and more bitter and angry.
As he realized this, he decided to conduct an informal experiment. Throughout the next couple of hours of daily routine, he made sure he kept the scowl on his face, his arms crossed, and an agitated demeanor. Before long, the guys were asking, “What’s wrong with you?” He replied, “I’m just trying to fit in.”
After the group got over the initial shock, the tone began to change. That is all it took: one calculated, planned, purposeful incident of pointing out the obvious, and the tone changed. By the end of the day, everyone was in a good mood, the conversation was positive, and peace had been restored by the lowest ranking and newest crew member. Anyone can “change the tone” at the firehouse, and with very little effort.
Negativity can be dangerous. In fact, it can be deadly. Studies show that negative emotions are linked to a lower immune response against disease. Richard I. Davidson, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Psychiatry, who conducted the study, says, “Emotions play an important role in regulating systems in the body that influence health. This study establishes that people with a pattern of brain activity that has been associated with positive [emotions] are also the ones to show the best response to the flu vaccine.”1 It begins to suggest that subjects with a more positive emotional disposition may be healthier. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, an expert on stress and immunity at Ohio State University, told the New York Times that the study represents “some of the best evidence we’ve seen to date.” (1)
In addition to health concerns, negativity affects the human spirit. Chuck Gallozzi, a personal development coach, identifies 13 different effects of negativity.2 Here is a short list.
• Complaining is worse than doing nothing. It is digging the rut you are in deeper and deeper. Each time you complain, it becomes increasingly difficult to climb out of the ditch you’ve created.
• A negative attitude is self-defeating. You won’t find solutions to life’s problems by looking for someone or something to blame. Those who say, “Positive thinking doesn’t work for me,” have gotten it backward. It’s not positive thinking that has to work; YOU have to work. For example, you have to work at appreciating what you have instead of moaning about what you lack.
• Everything negative you say about yourself to yourself (self-talk) and to others is a suggestion. You are unwittingly practicing self-hypnosis, programming yourself for failure and creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
• Negativity attracts other complainers. Because those who live in a world of doom and gloom alienate others, they have no choice but to look for other negative people with whom to associate. They then feed off one another and get locked in a clique of losers.
• Negative people not only harm themselves; they harm the world. They cease to make a contribution to it. Instead of helping, they spread gloom and misery everywhere. (2)
So, it is easy to see how damaging a negative tone can be. It is also easy to see how negativity is so easy to come by. How hard is it to blame everything on someone else? Have you ever heard comments such as, “Those chiefs never can get it right,” “That crew never cleans the house,” or “Those paramedics get all the overtime”?
The point of this article is not to point out the obvious, that negativity is bad, or to give you a step-by-step approach on how to combat negativity. Many books have been written on those topics. The point is to remind you how simple it is to change the tone in your firehouse or in your work group.
I heard a speaker one time relating a story about a baseball player back in the 1980s who had been given the biggest contract of all time. This player was going to get paid 17 times more than the average big league ballplayer just because he could get one more hit than the average ball player for every five times at bat. The difference in money between being average and being great is astronomical. However, the effort put forth was just a little bit more. What did this ballplayer do differently than the average ball player? He came a little earlier to practice and swung a few more baseball bats; he stayed a little longer after practice and threw a few more balls and took a few extra grounders. The effort, while calculated, was just a little bit more than average.
Relate this to changing the tone in the firehouse. You are not trying to turn the direction of the whole department; you are only redirecting a three- to four-person engine company. Maybe it is just holding your tongue one more time during the day. Maybe it is offering a genuine smile to the ugliest, smelliest, most negative “truckie” in the department one more time during your tour of duty. Maybe it is as simple as trying to “fit in,” as my firefighter did.
Positive attitudes are as contagious as negative ones. The fire service just needs more people willing to create a different mold for everyone to jump into. Most firefighters want to have fun at work, and having a positive tone is fun! Look for those teachable moments where you can get a giggle or raise an eyebrow. Use little personal experiments, and see for yourself that YOU can change the tone. A positive tone will increase your enthusiasm for your work and be contagious to the customers you serve.
References
1. Bhattacharya, Shaoni, “Brain study links negative emotions and lowered immunity,” NewScientist.com. Sept. 2003.14:38 02, http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4116/.
2. Chuck Gallozzi, 2003, http://www.personal-development.com/chuck/negativethinking.htm/.
JERROD VANLANDINGHAM is a lieutenant in the Longmont (CO) Fire Department. He has been a career firefighter since 1995 and a lieutenant since 2001. He has a BA in communication and is working toward an MBA/PA. He is a certified fire office, fire inspector, haz-mat technician, and EMT.
