Options for Dealing with Difficult People
When you are in a situation dealing with difficult people, you’re not stuck. You do have options. In this video blog, Kit discusses four options for handling difficult people. Knowing your options will not only help you in these situations, but can also improve relationships.
There are four helpful options that you can choose to use when dealing with difficult people:
- Status Quo – Don’t change a thing. What you’re currently doing or saying could be good enough. Just keep doing what you’re doing.
- Change Your Attitude – Think more positively about that person. There must be something we can appreciate about them.
- Change Your Communication Behavior – Make some adjustments on how you respond rather than react. Minor adjustments in communication can have a major impact on most relationships.
- Leave – It would be nice if the difficult people would leave. Yet, the problem is, they most likely won’t. Your best option might be for you to leave. Who knows? You probably didn’t like the job anyway. Wouldn’t it be great to go to another office where people treat you better rather than worse?
Knowing your options takes away a lot of stress when going into a situation where you know you have to deal with difficult people. Having these options can even help when having a conversation with someone who you know has been consistently difficult. When we know our options and are able to modify our behavior, people will be intrigued by us rather than wanting to insult us.
For more techniques on dealing with difficult people, check out Kit’s presentation on Handling Difficult People: Dealing with People You Can’t Stand. Please stop by next Monday for another video blog.