Every workplace that you join has plenty of other workers with whom you have to get along nicely to sustain yourself. Given below are some steps and tips for dealing with difficult co-workers.
Examine yourself
It is important to know yourself before pointing fingers at others and you therefore should go for some introspection in the preliminary stage. Such might be the situation where something that you are doing is annoying your co-worker or may be hindering his progress. Try to learn as much about yourself as you can before you confront others and their activities. Learn what irritates them or annoys them and check if you have been doing such a thing in the recent past. If yes, then act immediately upon it and let them know that you are sorry. Do not be egoistic because your career is at stake, bow down where you are wrong. Curb some of your habits which annoy your co-worker, they will certainly appreciate this gesture.
Approach the person
When dealing with a resistive co-worker, you should try to know his problem and opinion too. You should at least know the reason behind his actions and his intent in harassing you. Generally old co-workers feel insecure when a new person joins the office and he appears as a risk to them. Your co-worker might be either jealous or excessively competitive and hence be creating problems for you. Show him how you both can work in tandem and improve your efficiency but do this politely. He will not like to be told what to do and how to by you, so do not start advising him, instead ask for his opinion on the matter. Show him that you respect him and are not trying to dominate him in anyway and that you are merely seeking his help and co-operation.
Talk to others
When dealing with such a person who is not letting you work properly and is affecting your efficiency, it is better to talk about it to a friend or senior. You should not feel that you are the only one who is facing such problems and look around for other who are like you. If you have just started working, talk to a senior who might have faced similar problems when he joined and will help you by sharing his experience. Talking to others helps you by both making you feel good that you shared it and also by giving you some ideas of how you should go about it. Do not spread the problem and do not share indiscriminately with people, choose wisely whom to talk to. Telling everybody about your problem will make sure that your mean co-worker gets to hear of it.
Rally the other employees
One way of dealing with such a person, who is unwilling to budge from his stand and is constantly annoying you, is to rally other employees. These employees must also have been suffering at their hands and would be glad to help you out because you both share a problem. Talking to these people will help you feel better as you will get to know that you are not alone in your sufferings. The other employees may also come to your aid when you are being harassed or offended by the problematic one. You will feel strong and brave when you have a large number of people backing you. Also when the co worker notices that so many people are united against him, he may realize that there has to be something wrong with himself else so many people would not be against him and will mellow down.
Avoid them
When you have tried solving the problem by being nice to them and discussing the problem and still are incapable of finding a solution, itâs better to avoid them. Do not seek any altercation with them or try to show them whoâs the boss because this will only tempt them to annoy you further. Do not humiliate or insult them in front of others because they will get to know some way or other and get back for it. Simply avoid interacting with them in every possible way and stay out of their way. If there is something that they donât like you doing, even if unreasonably, try to curtail it. Do not give them an opportunity to say anything to you or annoy you. Do your own work and do not try to interfere in theirs, if you think their might be such a scenario where your task may hinder theirs, try to delegate it to somebody else.
