Never Complain Down

My friend and colleague Micah asked me about a mantra I use . . .  and it's a worthwhile subject to continue forward with. Her question was: "Do you think if leaders only show the positive side to those they lead, that the people under them will feel less connected with the mission/vision/goals? Or would you saw that this is more situational?"

In the military, the rule to only complain and push positivity down was somewhat set in stone and was primarily there to help with motivation. Why have the privates in an infantry fire team hear the complaints from their leaders and have absolutely no capabilities to make any changes, either with the mission or with their careers and lives? We were all kinda stuck there for four years, best to make the best of things. And as leaders, we shielded our teams from the negatives they couldn't change. 

Now that I'm in the business world I've kept that mantra around although its a tad more nuanced. I think it's more about sheltering and shielding my direct reports from the negative and emphasize the positive, rather than excluding them from mission, vision, and goals. I think now, I may express the negative to my teams, and help them craft their own message to the troops beneath them, but I always try to keep a positive spin on things. Who wants to work for a place that's filled with negativity and drama?

As Micah mentioned, it's probably more situational. It's a rule of thumb. Now that I'm a senior leader at my organization I find myself being more realistic with my supervisors than I was with my teams when I was just a supervisor. I feel certain my direct reports do the same and will probably follow in my footsteps. I'll say that my leaders tend to follow the same mantra. They might be realistic in their threats, opportunities, and weaknesses but not to the point that it's complaining to me. Price of leadership perhaps?