All kinds of personality traits — laziness, unsociability or irritability, for example — can translate into disastrous consequences at the workplace. What would just be a little personality quirk in a different context can have its negative effects magnified a hundred-fold in a workplace environment.

If people do not recogize they are having problems, this can have serious repercussions both for them and the organizations they work for. In addition to workplace inefficiency riling up management, the employee in question can expect to have to face a tide of unpleasantness and friction with his or her colleagues.

One thing that can cause workplace stress and conflict, as consultant Anna Kozlovskaya says in this week’s The Leader, is persistent negative thinking — looking at things in the worst possible light. It undermines confidence in one’s abilities to get the job done and so often leads to shoddy work, in addition to a poor self-image. Not only is it a wear on a person’s psyche, but it can have a serious negative impact on one’s working environment.

It is important to recognize negative thinking for what it is. Negative thinking is not an objective appraisal of a bad situation — it is looking at the world through dark glasses and seeing things in an unrealistically grim light.

To overcome negative thinking, it is necessary to learn to take a step back and look at things in all their good and bad in an unbiased way.