ChumBonus: Who Do You Know?

Unless your job requires you to work alone in a closed room with little contact with the outside world, you have probably, at one time or another, had to deal with a difficult coworker.  They come in many forms, and wear many faces, from team members to cubicle-mates and bosses.  Maybe they talk too much, keeping you from getting your work done, or they’re like an angry badger, lashing out at everyone and generally making people miserable.  Regardless, we’ve done a little looking around and have collected a few links that provide some great insights into dealing with these troublesome office types.  And in our search we’ve uncovered a few basic strategies commonly used against them.

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Step 1 – Try Talking to Them

When faced with a difficult coworker, regardless of type, many people chose to ignore the situation in the hopes that it will go away.  Sometimes this works, especially if the problem person in question is merely the overly chatty type, but many times ignoring the problem will only cause it to fester like an infected scratch.   It may seem like common sense to some, but approaching the coworker and discussing your issues with them can often solve the problem.  Most people will probably respond well to a serious, yet non-aggressive conversation of a potential problem between you.  Not only do you not have to involve anyone else (i.e. management) in the situation, if the person is being inadvertently difficult, you may spare them some embarrassment by keeping the problem between the two of you.

Step 2 – Avoid, Avoid, Avoid

Another potential pearl of common sense wisdom is simply try to avoid them.  Remember when you were a kid and your Mom told you that if you didn’t bother the bee it wouldn’t bother you?  Well, this is the same thing.  Sometimes difficult people are just looking for an excuse.  Don’t give it to them.  Unless you are forced to work with them closely, it may be possible to steer clear of the thorn in your side.  The avoidance may even—if you’re lucky and the individual is not overly dense and/or tenacious—send a passive message of your discomfort and they’ll leave you alone.  Don’t stir the nest with a stick and you won’t get stung.

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Step 3 – Kick it up a Notch

If you’ve tried the other two most common approaches and still find you have an issue then it may be time to talk to your boss about the individual.  If it comes to this it’s important not to come across as whining lest you be labeled a difficult person yourself.  Gather your evidence, and calmly make your case against the coworker in a professional manner.  If your boss is reasonable, and not the source of your worries in the first place, then they will probably be able to handle the situation and you can wash your hands of it altogether.  When your own boss happens to be the problem, try Step 1 first and hope for the best.  Step 2 will likely not be possible when it’s your own boss making your work life a living hell, so you may cautiously give some thought to talking to his/her superior about your issues, but proceed with caution.

Here are some links with further suggestions on dealing with difficult people in the workplace:

Learning to Deal With Difficult People

9 Useful Strategies for Dealing with Difficult People at Work

Rise Above the Fray

If you have any other suggestions for handling difficult coworkers share them in the comments section!

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 8:59 am and is filed under jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.