Dealing with Difficult People

You must address the issues. If you don’t deal with the issue, the situation won’t get
better and it usually gets worse. If you leave well alone, hoping the problem will resolve,
conflict simmers and erupts counter-productively. Coworkers feel angry.

Deciding to live with the situation long term is rarely an option.

Firstly, let’s be clear about the sort of person we are considering in this topic.

The person we are not considering is the person who has a real and genuine grievance
because they’ve been badly treated and who is complaining because they should
complain. Those people are completely justified in their complaint.

Be careful that the person you’ve been asked to “sort out” isn’t this sort of person. Do
some research before agreeing to take on the task.

Secondly, it’s more helpful to you and it’s easier to deal with if you think about the
unproductive /unacceptable behaviour rather than the “difficult person”.

The behaviours we are considering here are:

Read the rest of this “5 Minute Guide” for managers..