Colleagues can either be constructive or disruptive!

The helpful ones make work much easier and the workplace a great place to look forward going to every day. But, handling the disruptive ones requires a lot of tact or else, they can make your already difficult work atmosphere even more difficult. With some tactful interference, you can either keep away or handle such difficult personalities at work.

Here are some tips to manage different personalities in the workplace:

Identify difficult co-workers

The very first point of importance is to identify the difficult-to-handle co-workers.

They can come in all sizes and shapes. There are gossip machines, bossy teammates, blamers, victims and show-stealers in all organizations. The very first step involves identifying who’s who in the office.

Once you know the people who can create problems, the least you can do is to avoid their company as much as possible. It will not help you avoid the problems they create, but it will keep you away from them and you can better concentrate on your work and productivity. Out of sight, out of mind, so they say.

Have Patience

When you work in the same office, it is very difficult to avoid some people completely. They can provoke you into a fight and then scoot away easily when supervisors pop up. You will realize only later that the troublemaker who started it all has already escaped. So, don’t allow yourself to be provoked. Patience makes a great barrier against impending fights.

Evaluate the Situation

To help you avoid trouble at work, evaluate a sticky situation with a troublemaker officemate. See how it will affect your position in the office, how it will affect your relationship with your colleagues, and how it might affect all the achievements you’ve built up over the years. This way, you might be able to find a better way out of your situation that won’t mean getting into a fight with a difficult co-worker.

See Also: How to Deal with a Workplace Bully

Know who you are dealing with

As you evaluate the situation, you need to know the person whom you are dealing with too. Sometimes, troublemakers create issues just to gain some attention. Other times, it is for their professional gain.

Seniors can make your life hell at work just for the sake of playing the boss. If they have more connections in the office, it is best to avoid a confrontation as you will be the person who can be more affected because of it. If it is a teammate, evaluate his connections.

A colleague closer to the boss can invite more trouble than one who is not. It is hence important to know more about the troublemaker before you decide on a strategy to combat trouble.

No point discussing with colleagues

Discussing your issue with your colleagues will only make matters worse. If any of them spill the beans to the person involved, it can aggravate the issue. When there’s a gossiper in the group, anything you shared may be communicated in a totally negative aspect. More often than not, your colleagues will be hard put to offer a realistic solution so there’s no point discussing the matter with others.

Try talking truce

Once you have evaluated the situation and the person involved, you can try talking to the person involved to sort out your differences. If things can be settled amicably, that’s the best solution. Sometimes the issue might be because of a misunderstanding which can be sorted out by talking things over. One trial at discussing a truce will be a good option to try anyway.

Escalate when you cannot handle it

Finally, if things seem to be getting overboard, do not hesitate to escalate the matter to your boss. Make sure the communication is neutral and clear so that it is not used against you in any way. Take a peaceful stance while discussing with the boss or your superior and explain calmly all the steps you have taken including the confrontation. Also, make it clear that you are willing to give the other person another chance to change to be very fair. This way you are safe the next time some issue comes up.

See Also: Smart Ways to Navigate Office Politics and Emerge as a Winner

 

Author-bio: Levin George is a Search Engine Optimizer at OfficeRock.com. He actively pursues interests related to latest internet marketing trends. He spends his leisure time reading, meditating and enjoying the joys of technology.

 

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A while back, I took acting classes, one of which involved me doing a monologue (which is basically when one person stands in front of the audience for an extended period of time and speaks directly to them). This monologue was from the playwright Eric Bogosian and the title was “Pounding Nails in the Floor with my Forehead.”

And although this monologue was meant to be funny, it kept coming out as if I was angry, not the emotion I wanted to portray to the audience. This left me feeling frustrated with myself and unsure what to do in order to quit sounding mad so I might actually make them laugh.

At one point, my teacher, one of the best teachers I’ve actually ever had, sensed my struggle and said, “Red. Stop for a second and come sit in my seat.” I wasn’t quite sure what good that was going to do but, like a good student, I complied, trusting in the fact that he knew what he was doing (when I clearly felt like I didn’t). Then he gave me my next command. “Now do the monologue.”

In my mind, I’m thinking, “What? How am I going to do the monologue from this audience seat?” Most importantly, I wondered how changing my physical location was ever going to help me change my tone enough for the correct effect. But again, I trusted my teacher so I did as he asked. The result? The monologue suddenly sounded exactly like it was supposed to…funny.

That day I learned that sometimes you have to move your physical space in order to change your perspective and get better results. In this case, it took me leaving the theater stage and sitting in an audience member’s chair to shift my thoughts enough to shift the monologue tone as well. So, if you’re not achieving what you want in your life, maybe moving your space is the one thing that can help you overcome your hurdles and create better results.

For example, if you work behind a computer all day and find that you spend more time fiddling with your ink pen than typing out your marketing goals or coming up with new products or services, why not take your laptop and head to a coffee shop instead? Leaving the quiet office scene and going someplace where people come and go all day may just stoke your creativity, making it easier to come up with new thoughts and ideas that can take you and your business to higher levels.

Or if you feel like you’ve been treading water for some time in your career—expending lots of energy but not really getting anywhere—a change of space may be exactly what you need to start moving forward again. This could involve taking a day off and going to a conference, networking with others, or taking a class to learn more in an area that you struggle (marketing, product development, etc.) and enabling you to begin to make progress again.

By changing your physical space, you’re better able to change your mental perspective. When you see things from a different angle, you get a better view of solutions or ideas that you didn’t know existed simply because you’re looking at them differently than ever before.

This process can be amazingly transformational, helping you achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. And you can do it solely by taking a step in another direction, giving you a better view.

See Also: How to Leverage Your Problems in Order to Become Happier

 

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