I am interested to know what strategies people have had success with, when dealing with negative team members. I have recently taken a role as Team Lead for a relatively large group of engineers. One particular team member has expressed frustration about a perceived stagnation in his career. From what I've seen to date, the team (and company) have done a pretty poor job of people development and of providing critical or constructive feedback to those in need of it. This particular person has a tendency to come across as a negative individual, always fast to point out where things went wrong or where things are broken but not as quick on the draw to identify or suggest solutions. I strongly suspect this character trait is the major contributing factor to his career stagnation and I'd like to provide this feedback in as constructive a manner as possible.
I'd love to know what strategies people have used when providing this type of personality-centric feedback. I can imagine this person becoming defensive and "clamming-up" if not framed in the right manner