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Mar 6, 2024 · View this guide on how to deal with difficult interactions at work and discover 11 tips for managing conflict with colleagues and overcoming challenging situations.
- Nick Cooke
- Listen. Listening is the number one step in dealing with "unreasonable" people. Everyone wants to feel heard. No progress can take place until the other person feels acknowledged.
- Stay calm. When a situation is emotionally charged, it's easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment. Monitor your breathing. Try to take some slow, deep breaths.
- Don’t judge. You don't know what the other person is going through. Chances are if a person is acting unreasonable, they are likely feeling some sort of vulnerability or fear.
- Reflect respect and dignity toward the other person. No matter how a person is treating you, showing contempt will not help productively resolve the situation.
- Examine yourself first. This is generally the most difficult (but also most important) step of any problem: Check yourself, and ask how you might be contributing to the issue at hand.
- Learn empathy. Instead of being defensive, see the difficult person as a person. Try to understand where he or she is coming from. What does that person need that he or she isn’t getting?
- Don’t take it personally. It's important to remind yourself that you likely aren't the cause of someone else's demeanor. Recently, I was working with a client who was newly promoted and assigned a new team.
- Become proactive. What happens when someone takes credit for your work or yells at you? You likely become angry or upset. The problem is, most of us can end up spending valuable mental, emotional and physical energy stuck this way.
- Recognize what you can—and cannot—control. Remembering that you are powerless to control other people's behavior empowers you to take control of your own.
- Behaviors are habitual and patterned. Anticipate them. We often see and predict the repetition in people's behavioral patterns. I always joke that if you have ever warned a partner about some family quirks on the way to meet your parents, then you are an expert at recognizing patterns and anticipating reactions.
- Separate the person from the behavior. When you are at odds with someone, it can be a challenge to take a step back and remember they are a human, too.
- Embrace curiosity and empathy as de-escalation tools. Once you can effectively reduce your limbic-based reactions, you can start focusing on understanding the difficult person's behaviors on a deeper level.
May 22, 2023 · We look at common reasons for difficult behavior, how you can remain calm and composed in the midst of a challenging situation, and how you can deal with conflicts in the workplace and with family.
- Lakeisha Fleming
Nov 27, 2023 · Prepare yourself beforehand through relaxation techniques, deep breathing exercises, and meditation. Calming physical activities like walking can also help lower stress. If a conversation becomes heated, suggest taking a break and reconvening later. You can say, "It seems like we've hit a nerve here.
Sep 21, 2022 · But suppressing our emotions rarely helps. In this piece, the author outlines four tactics that are tempting to try — but often backfire — when dealing with a difficult colleague.
