How to work with colleagues if you can't find common ground

All of us have at least once had to work with people whom we cannot stand. Perhaps this was the person who laughs out loud at the most inopportune moment. Or one who constantly steals other people's ideas and undeservedly receives praise from the authorities.

Sometimes completely different characters interfere with working together: someone is active and fast, and someone is slow and clumsy. At times, the reason for hostility is simply impossible to explain, when, for example, colleagues from different departments are working on a common project and simply do not understand each other. Of course, all this affects not only the process, but also the result.

Most often, four complex character traits interfere with establishing normal working relationships: selfishness, conflict, rudeness and irresponsibility. Fortunately, you can find your own approach to each of those who have these qualities.

How to deal with an egoist

Selfish people usually cannot be described as friendly and pleasant people, on the contrary, they think exclusively of themselves. In the worst cases, this is combined with toxic behavior and even narcissism.

Psychology professor Art Markman notes that narcissistic behavior is especially detrimental to the work environment, but it's important to see the difference between self-confident and narcissistic. Narcissists are distinguished by the fact that they do not know how to appreciate other people's good ideas and tend to exaggerate their own importance.

If you are a boss, try to deal with this behavior immediately and directly. When you see an employee going over their heads, let him know that this behavior is unacceptable.

If the selfish colleague is yours, use the same approach. It is better to immediately stop such an attitude and make it clear that you will not tolerate this in your address.

How to get along with a conflict lover

Interpersonal drama should never become part of the work process. But this is difficult to explain to those who are dissatisfied with every little thing and loves to arrange conflicts on the empty place.

According to Assistant Management Professor Stefan Dilhert, conflicts can be good. Or at least those that do not harm the corporate culture. It's all about intentions. Constructive disagreements move forward, and conflicts for the sake of conflict or energy vampirism only take away the strength. Alas, lovers of quarrels and squabbles choose just the second option.

If you are a boss, try to give such subordinates independent tasks, as working in tandem can lead to new conflicts. It is also important to create and maintain an atmosphere of mutual assistance and mutual assistance in the team.

If you have to deal with such a colleague, do not accept his terms of the game and do not allow yourself to be drawn into conflict. For any comments not related to work, answer in monosyllables and put the topic back on track. Over time, such a person will understand that he will not receive the desired reaction from you, and will switch to another “victim”.

How to deal with a rude person

This is not necessarily the person who constantly makes unpleasant remarks. In a professional team, it is rather the one who does not like to work in a team, constantly criticizes everyone and everything and very rarely makes compromises.

Straightforwardness can help in dealing with such people. They rarely understand what it means to "smooth corners" at all, and do not appreciate soft, blurry wording. For example, instead of saying “The edits on the project are generally not bad, but a few more points need to be changed”, it’s better to go straight to business: “The following points need to be corrected in the project ...”.

It is worth teaming up with other colleagues as well. When the rude person starts to criticize someone else's work or idea again, use the situation as a brainstorming session and collectively come up with new options together. This will switch his attention.

Some of those who are characterized by rudeness sometimes try to dominate the team - to impose their opinions or demand that they do everything exactly the way they want. If your colleague is like that, psychotherapist Melody Wilding advises using his focus on results.

More often than not, rude people are task-focused, so you can try to explain to them how their behavior is preventing a department or company from doing more. This is especially useful for bosses. Remind these people that they are part of the team, or be blunt that they are aggressive and passive-aggressive reactions at work are unacceptable.

How to get along with an irresponsible colleague

Compliance with deadlines and responsible attitude to assignments is not a priority for such employees. Most often they are spoken of as unreliable and unable to follow plans. These are the very people who prefer to do things their own way instead of sticking to standards. It's not always a bad thing, but when there is a serious deadline, this behavior is pretty annoying.

To work productively with such a colleague, you need to raise the rates. He will hardly consider it important to answer your request on time, but he will probably quickly change his mind when he finds out that the boss himself is monitoring the execution of the task.

If that doesn't work, remind the non-essential employee of a corporate culture that most likely discourages laziness and procrastination. Perhaps this will force him to reconsider his attitude to work.