Organizations consist of a variety of people from different cultural, geographical and economic backgrounds. It is obvious that in a heterogeneous group there will be differences of opinions and ideas and different people behave differently. Hence, in every workplace, we can find people who are difficult to work with. Although dealing with such difficult co-workers is challenging, it can also be immensely rewarding. By learning how to deal with difficult colleagues, we can learn how to face adverse situations and successfully tackle them. We can improve our skills in dealing with such people by following the below tips:
Analyze in what way they are difficult: To tackle difficult people, it is important that we understand how difficult the person is and in what way is he/she difficult. Only when we know the problem, can we find a solution. We can categorize difficult people as those who are difficult for all and not just one of us and those who just target and bully us in particular. In the former case, it becomes easier to tackle that person, by teaming up with others and arriving at ways, collectively while in the latter case where need to exercise caution in understanding what is causing the problem so that it can be handled effectively.
Evaluate the situation: Whatever kind of trouble we face, it’s important that we evaluate the situation and then act upon it. It is natural for all to expect professionalism but if somebody does not show it, it makes sense to evaluate why that person is behaving that way. By probing in a little, we can understand why somebody is behaving differently. The reasons could vary such as being jealous of us, they just don’t want to agree with us and they just argue for the sake of disagreement, or they want to take advantage of our being good and get their work done through us. This evaluation can add good insight into the problem.
Take action: Once we narrow down the reasons for the behaviour of the difficult co-worker, we ought to take a firm action to stop them from doing that further. Else, we will get intimidated by those people and lose control over our work life that leads to stress and frustration and losing balance work-life balance as well.
Be cool: Taking action does not mean complaining about these people to the higher authorities or getting to personal abuse or back-biting. We should be able to handle these people with great calm and mental strength. Keeping the differences between us personal will help us forget the issue once it is resolved. However, we can definitely approach our higher authorities for help in extreme situations where things can’t be managed by us alone.
Be positive: To combat the negative thoughts in others, we should load ourselves with an abundance of positive attitude and approach them in a friendly manner so as to resolve the matter. Several times, it is possible that the other person is not entirely wrong and there is a mistake on our part to understand that person. When we approach that person with an open mind, we can understand their point of view and resolve the issue amicably.
It is a fact that no matter how smart or diligent we may be if we cannot get along with our colleagues, we cannot work at our maximum potential. And, also there is no denying of the fact that difficult people exist and we have to learn to cope with them. With a little positive attitude and calmness, we can tackle even the most difficult co-workers with ease.