Our office is like our second home. It's the one place where we spend at least eight hours of our time every single day or at least from Monday to Friday.
The office is also the venue for us to develop our social skills. Here, we interact with our officemates, our bosses and with our clients.While clients may come and go, we regularly see the same people everytime we come to work. We talk to our coworkers for deliberation of plans. We report to our department heads for updates and evaluation. It's the same cycle every work day. Nothing beats boredom at the office than a cup of coffee and a nice chat with the person next to your cubicle. You may be surprised to know that work becomes a breeze when you have good coworkers and everybody seems to complement each other.
Unfortunately every workplace has a lot of drama and antagonists in it and dealing with these difficult people at work does not come as easy as pay day.
It becomes a burden for some. A lot of people seem to ignore these kind of coworkers, while others simply give up and regretfully resign from their beloved jobs. It is quite painful to know that you have to let go of your job just because you have a difficult coworker who is too much to handle. Considering you have to see her almost every day is quite a task. It is especially not right when your job is your only bread and butter. If you love your job so much, you really can't just give up at all. Besides, your officemate may not seem to be that difficult after all, only if you just give her the chance. If you think about it, even the most wicked and evil villain had a mother and was once loved. There were probably circumstances that affected your coworker which made her become an antagonist to a lot of you.
Dealing with difficult people at work may seem to be an added cost and an extra baggage for those who are not used to doing this.
Aggie, 21, who works at a lending company as an administrative staff, always comes in late. During office hours all her time is spent on her mobile phone and irritates her department head as well as her coworkers. She gets to pay penalty charges from banks because she puts checks in deposit forgetting that the client actually asked that the check be put on hold. To make matters worse, she can't organize files for proper turnover.
Her boss could not stand her. So when Aggie finally said she wanted to resign, it was great news.
The only reason Aggie resigned was that she had lost interest in her work. She had no one to talk to at home because everyone else was busy too. She only talked to her boyfriend in the neighboring city that kept her mobile phone busy. She also felt that her boss was actually showing her gestures of animosity. Every day seemed to mark what a total failure she was. She couldn't get a simple task done without messing her entire life. She remembered the manager telling her department head while in front of her that they should be looking for "enthusiastic" and "passionate" employees. It was a depressing comment.
Sometimes when we see others like Aggie, as difficult to handle and they are a pain in the neck, let's also consider what are the reasons why they act that way. Is it family or personal problems? Or maybe financial issues? Maybe the person next to you is having problems of her own and did not want to tell everybody else but she expresses her anger with the way she handles her job. Sometimes, when you see your co-employee as someone who is difficult to handle, you might not realize it that she too feels like she is the victim of a bad treatment in the office.
Maybe she feels that she is your topic at lunch so she turns into a monster most of the time.
Before anything else gets frozen from coworkers having that cold shoulder, try these three simple tips on how to deal with difficult people at work.
1. Communicate often.
One important thing to do in dealing with difficult people at work is to communicate with them more often. Talk to your coworkers once in a while. Walk that extra mile - to the next cubicle of course and greet that sad face a good happy morning. Ask your officemate how her day was. If she will start talking about a personal problem at home then you will know why she goes grumpy in the afternoon, or maybe she won't be because she got someone to talk to and that's you. She will probably be happy she got that out of her chest.
2. Add in some compliments.
Telling someone that her outfit looks awesome actually makes wonders. A nice sincere compliment always makes someone's day more wonderful. You can be more creative and write compliments on your sticky note and stick it on your coworker's desk. There are more ways than one in telling someone that there's something good in that person.
3. Always put your best shoe forward.
Remember that nobody will ever hurt you unless you allow that person to hurt you. That is a good saying and a good advice for people who feel like they have this inferiority complex in the office and they don't know what to do on how to deal with difficult people at work.
When you demonstrate your strength and positive attitude, your strong personality will shine. It will mirror your connection with the people surrounding you. In return, you will less likely be intimidated by those who always see an opportunity to belittle you and your capabilities. When you are firm in showing what you can do and encourage others that they have a strong support system, you will always have a steady flow of creativity in your team.
The next time you encounter difficult people at work, always have a cool head first and try to understand the reasons why. You will see better results.