How to work with difficult people
Publication: Conflict Management | Difficult People | Emotional intelligence | Relationship Building
Many years ago, I worked with someone who took an instant dislike to me. In our interactions, they were rude, abrupt and generally unhelpful. I never got to the reason for their behaviour, but I did find a way to manage it. My approach was the opposite of their behaviour. I went out of my […]
Seeking successful impact is never one size fits all
Publication: Communication styles | Conflict Management | Workplace impact
You’ll have seen this at some stage during a conversation; a situation where someone is frustrated and becomes increasingly so. Why? Because they aren’t getting what they want out of the conversation. However, rather than recognise that their current communication style isn’t working, they’ll dig in and keep using the same approach. Having impact, maintaining […]
Is it them or is it you?
Publication: Conflict Management | Difficult Relationships | Emotional intelligence
We all have people in our personal and professional life who we find challenging. We may label them as ‘precious’, ‘difficult’, the ‘problem child’ or ‘hard work’. If they’re a colleague, the typical approach is to minimise the amount of time you spend with them and to find a way to work around them. If […]
Want impact? Be kind even when it’s hard
Publication: Conflict Management | Emotional intelligence | Workplace Kindness
We all experience those situations where someone does something unreasonable, unfair or just downright mean, and our immediate reaction may be to fight back or retaliate in some way. In many cases, a better response is to respond with kindness. Recently, one of my team members received an unnecessarily narky email from someone. Rather than […]