Use These 6 Tips To Deal With Difficult People At Work

Difficult coworkers, clients, bosses, and customers can’t be avoided when you are navigating the waters of the corporate world. Learning to deal with tricky situations at work will have long-term benefits for you.

It isn’t easy to bear with difficult coworkers. But when you learn how to work with anyone, you can improve your work environment and morale. You will be taking positive steps forward to help others at your workplace get rid of unnecessary issues that arise because of difficult workers too.

1.Try to pinpoint exactly what is making someone a difficult person

You might feel that one of your coworkers is being obnoxiously difficult with you. At the same time, someone in your office might feel that the person in question is pretty amicable to get along with. Recognize that your actions too might affect a person’s treatment of you. If you can’t quite put a finger on what makes this particular person difficult to deal with, you might have to self-inspect your relationship to see whether you have been unnecessarily clashing with them.

2.Stop being afraid of confrontation and conflict

If a coworker is bullying you, or if a coworker’s negativity is affecting your work performance negatively, you must make a stand for yourself. There will be instances where a difficult coworker will try to steal credit for your work, or constantly fall behind on deadlines making you late for submissions. If you don’t let them know that these things are bothering you, they will never change their negative actions. So, don’t be afraid to talk things out with a coworker if they start being difficult.

3.Build effective work relationships

You wouldn’t be happy at your job if you have to enter an office full of people you despise every day. If you don’t build positive relationships with your coworkers, your qualifications would not matter to the company. You couldn’t turn in good project work if the team members are at each other’s necks. When you encounter problems with coworkers, try to think of solutions that will benefit both parties. Don’t play the blame game and try to report your coworkers every time a minor inconvenience occurs. Mind your verbal and nonverbal communication when talking to a difficult coworker.

4.Master the art of holding a difficult conversation

There will be many instances where you have to hold difficult conversations when you are trying to address inappropriate behaviors of the people you work with. The behavior you want to talk about might be something as simple as your coworker leaving behind soda cans that attract ants, or someone who keeps littering your side of the desk without ever offering to clean it up. Always ask for the person’s permission before you give them feedback and have a soft approach to the conversation. Don’t make the person feel worse by saying many others in the office have the same complaint about them.

5.Manage gossip among the coworkers

Employee gossip might seem at first like a fun game where you get to speculate about someone’s personal life, but it has the negative effect of lowering employee morale and creating a toxic work culture. If your floor has a gossiping bunch of coworkers, the best thing you can do is to try to redirect the conversation to better and more productive topics whenever you are part of it. You can even try telling them straight that gossiping is something you must avoid.

6.Learn to deal with difficult bosses

If you don’t learn to get along with your direct supervisor, you will have a tough time adjusting to your workplace and role. You won’t perform well at what you do, and your accomplishments will go unnoticed and unrewarded. Identify the actions that are making things difficult between the two of you and change those. Try to have a good relationship with your boss by obeying their requests that are within reason. Remember that trying to get back at your boss will have worse implications on your situation rather than theirs.