Staying calm in the midst of difficulty is a skill one has to master if he has to survive office life. Difficult colleagues would always be present but this does not mean you have to suffer and tolerate them needlessly. You have to set yourself apart from these troublesome individuals so that you could flourish and enjoy your life as a professional. Here are some pointers you may want to adapt.
Take a breather to relax
Spend time to relax during office breaks. You do not need to go outside, but taking a walk in the open air could help a lot to ease frayed nerves. You could also sit in a corner, close your eyes and do breathing exercises. Inspire deeply and then expire forcefully, psyching yourself to relax your muscles as you take deep breaths. Shut out all the noise and concerns for the day. You can do this on a regular basis. After lunch break would be an ideal time. As you do this regularly, you would learn how to relax even when difficult colleagues are around. This is the first step to dealing with them- staying calm. You can only do this if you genuinely feel at peace inside.
Enlist them as allies
Assign them significant roles in your team. Make them assistant team leaders or task leaders. Show them you have confidence in their abilities. Sometimes difficult colleagues are just trying to attract attention to themselves. If you give them responsibilities, they would be the focus of attention – which they want- and would cooperate with you to ensure that they succeed in their task. Once you succeed in making them allies, they would no longer be a problem.
Show them respect
Difficult people could also those with deep-seated insecurities. When you show respect to these difficult colleagues, this would indicate that you have confidence in them. This would help them be confident in themselves, as well. An example is when they contradict an item during an activity; you could ask them what other options they would like to suggest. This would show that their ideas are valued at work and would prompt them to start cooperating with everyone. They would also learn that respect begets respect.
Inspire trust
Show them how doing things positively would be more effective than being difficult. Inspire your colleagues to be optimistic about work. Inspire trust by being someone they could trust, who could perform tasks efficiently and properly. Your meticulously accomplished tasks should set an example for your office-mates. Inspiring trust also means that you recognize that every person in the office have something essential to contribute to the team. This action would assure these difficult persons that they are counted in too, and they would have no other option but to cooperate.
In whatever you do, remember that you could not change difficult colleagues unless you start changing how you react to them. React to them positively and this would surely change how you perceive them and how they react towards you in return.
