Wherever we go, there are difficult people. They
are in public places, in communities, the neighbourhood, school and the workplace. There can even be one in the family or any house environment you are living in. But those in these last two mentioned places are usually negligible, especially because they are close to us and they do not bother us with much time or extent. Even the people who are difficult to deal with whom we interact in public places and communities may not bother us that much. It is the difficult people in the workplace whom affect us a lot. Knowing how to deal with them is important.
The difficult people in the workplace can affect us much. They can even be the cause of resignation. But even if transfer to another company, there will still be people of this kind there. As mentioned, they are everywhere. We cannot just avoid them by quitting from one company to another. We need to deal with them. Without leaving, we can avoid them, ignore them or adapt to them. We can do one or more of these at the same time or one after another.
Difficult people in the workplace or any other working environment can disrupt us in doing our jobs. First, some of them behave us such exactly in the performance of work. They do their tasks in the wrong way or even not do them at all. In connection with this, they behave in ways which make it difficult for other people whose jobs are affected to approach them. They are not approachable and they respond in undesirable ways to say the least. Those whose works are directly related to their work will really be affected. Even those whose works do not need to be coordinated with them are still affected. Their difficult behaviour bothers and annoys other workers.
So, here are some tips on how to deal with difficult people in the workplace.
Avoid
Avoiding could be the easiest step or alternative. It can be the first that you will need or want to do. This is most applicable to those whose job is not directly related or affected by the work of the difficult person being avoided. It is the quickest and could be the best that you can do. You do not need to deal with them, so why not avoid them. Still, if your work is directly related or affected by the difficult person or their work, you can avoid them in applicable ways. The possible disadvantage to this is that, later, you may find it disturbing to constantly make the conscious effort to steer away from their path. However, you can always make some adjustments later. For example, you can proceed with another step or phase which is to ignore them.
Ignore
Ignoring the difficult people in the workplace is not the same as avoiding them. The latter is not having something to do with them as much as possible. The former is directly dealing with them but ignoring them or their difficult behaviour. You can still talk to them but will not have some of their difficult behaviour. For example, ignore their excessive arguing by listening, pretending to listen or creatively cutting them off. For instance, you can just list what they want to say and stop the argument by writing down on the whiteboard or the minutes of the meeting what they are pushing.
Adapt
After avoiding and then ignoring difficult people in the workplace, you can proceed with adapting to them. You have experienced avoiding and ignoring them and so have prepared yourself to do the next and higher form of dealing with these people. You are now ready to adapt to them. You have already made yourself strong enough to finally deal with them head on with the best possible ways and best possible results. You can now meet them at their game and “play” along with them without being bothered and distracted from your many other tasks that need focus.
With a more stable mind and emotion, you can now deal with difficult people. Engage them in discussions whether or not relating to work. When discussing with them topics inside the scope of work, you can now start to correct what wrong conceptions, ideas, beliefs, behaviour and means they have. First, listen to what they have to say. Then, as opposed to the preceeding ignoring them, you can actually process what they say. You will now be able to let them listen and understand what really are correct and needs to be done or followed.
Summary
Dealing with difficult people is inevitable because they are inevitable. Wherever you go, there will always be people who are like them. You can start by “not dealing” with them, proceed with dealing with them but ignoring them in ways that they do not know or notice and lastly, actually deal with them. In this last stage, you are now ready and will be able to let them listen, understand and follow what should be done in work. You only have to be emotionally and mentally mature enough to be able to do this. Difficult people will learn to listen, understand and heed. Show and make them feel that you are sincere in listening to them and they will also listen to you.
Live, Love and Learn 