6 ways to make workplace venting productive

Venting at work is natural and certainly understandable. But you must be smart about how, when and where you blow off steam.

“Venting is kind of like an out-loud ruminating that can keep us stuck in negativity longer rather than noticing it, letting it go and then being more solution-focused,” explains workplace psychologist Christine Allen. “In general, complaining tends to make people feel worse and not better. It tends to make the person that they’re complaining to feel worse as well.”

Aside from harming productivity and even your health, inappropriate venting can strain important relationships and put your career in jeopardy. It can even be addictive. “The more you vent, the more it becomes a habit,” writes Nadine Greiner, Ph.D., in Entrepreneur. “When it becomes a habit, you’re acutely attuned to the negative things in life.”