How To Deal With Annoying Coworkers: (9 Effective Strategies)
Today you’ll find out how to deal with annoying coworkers.
Annoying people can appear in many forms. Some do all the talking, interrupting people and talking about other people, never really listening. Some are lazy, messy, or unreliable.
And others just need to put the last word into every conversation.
A difficult co-worker may continuously belittle what you say and try to make you look bad, all the while fighting for the boss’s power and attention.
We are often put in situations where we must deal with people who are annoying and challenging, and having to interact with these people can cause stress and anxiety, and drastically affect your mood.
If you work with someone long enough, you are bound to encounter some conflicts
You find a difference of opinion. If you do not handle the situation, it will likely get worse.
Difficult people can be tough to deal with effectively, if your self-confidence and self-esteem are low.
The more you build on this, the easier it is going to be for you to find a way to handle situations you may encounter.
So let’s take a look at some strategies for dealing with this situation effectively.
How to Deal with Annoying Coworkers:
The most significant thing is…
1. Keep calm
And do not be reactive no matter how excited the annoying person is.
By practicing self-control, you can avoid escalating encounters, and will have the ability to use your better judgment to defuse situations appropriately.
If you feel your blood boiling and you feel like you are going to explode, try taking a few deep breaths and counting to ten. This small amount of time can really help your emotions calm down enough to stop the outburst.
No matter how senior we are in a corporation or where we sit in the pecking order, we are all influenced by the emotionally driven brain.
The effect of this is that when we are in conflict or feel danger, the brain releases adrenaline and cortisol, which cause the body to be hypnotized to fight or flight.
Our ability to subjectively analyze, think clearly, and respond calmly is seriously compromised.
Another great deployment tactic is…
2. Shift the focus back to the difficult person.
Often these people will point fingers at you, in an try to make you feel belittled and insufficient.
Their whole emphasis is on blaming you and your behavior, pointing out the problem without offering a constructive solution.
This attitude is solely from the position of wanting to control and dominate yourself.
If your response is defensive, you are just giving the annoying person an edge and allowing them to feel power and control over you.
An effective tactic for shifting focus and equalizing forces in an exchange, is to ask constructive questions.
Remaining calm and focusing on what the person perceives as an effective solution will direct your response towards a solution that’s proactive rather than reactive or defensive.
This strategy can really counteract their dominance over you, by shifting the conversation, and you trying to lead the other half of the exchange.
3. Use active listening
When you are not answering their questions, actively listening to the annoying person’s tirades will let you take control for the next few moments.
If you zone out and do not seem to notice them, they will only press harder and be more aggressive while pointing fingers at you.
Using good active listening will show that you fully understand what they believe is a drastic problem, and then you are in a position to take control and find a solution.
Active listening involves:
- Really listen to their words, rather than interrupting or disagreeing mid-sentence
- Nod your head to acknowledge that you understand what they’re saying
- After they’ve made their point, repeat the gist of what they said, of what they meant. Obviously this sounds stupid, so you need to use some common sense to summarize what they mean when you address their complaint.
- And again, ask questions to show you are listening.
After implementing these techniques, the difficult person will be more likely to feel that they’ve been heard and not going in one ear and out the other.
That way, you are in a better position to shift the power of the conversation and bring it back to the spotlight.
4. Be careful with your body language.
An interesting statistic to remember here, is that only 7% of communication is the words you say; 38% is made up of your tone of voice and expressions, while 55% is your body language.
A fast way to make an annoying person even angrier is to display body language that says you do not even want to hear about their problem. Try to face him, keeping your arms open.
Being closed with your arms crossed can indicate that you’re not open to their perspective (1). Crouching and facing forward can convey an absence of self-confidence – giving the impression of a weaker person.
Think predators vs. prey with these difficult people, but rather than fighting, you use subtle communication techniques to divert the force of the conversation and eventually disarm them.
5. Separate people and problems
Now in some situations, you may initially have a good relationship with the person, but they interfere with certain issues.
There are two factors that shape the conversation: The topics discussed, and the relationship between the people who are discussing.
Not having the ability to separate the two can lead to conflict and a break in the relationship.
By separating the person from the problem and keeping it private, you’ll have a better chance of encouraging cooperation and maintaining the friend’s respect.
And at all times remember – you may be a difficult person for your difficult person…
6. Learn from experience
Since these techniques are primarily communication tools (because we’re talking about how to deal with and defuse annoying people, not punch them in the face, right?) – it is very rewarding to take each of these difficult situations and turn them into experiential learning.
This way you perfect your skills in handling these situations and will become more adept in the long run.
While trying to deal with a difficult person can be overwhelming, asking yourself “what can I learn and take from this experience” will help you get at least one positive outlook from the encounter.
7. Use humor to spread the word
One of my favorites, which can be VERY effective when used properly and by the right people, is injecting the proper amount of humor into a conversation with an annoying person.
By not being reactive, but by finding the humor in the conflict, you can point it out
detachment from problems, and help disarm the emotions of others.
Of course, using inappropriate humor can have the opposite effect, so watch out.
Humor is really a robust communication tool, one that can express truth and opinion, while remaining calm, collected and picked up.
8. Deal with the bully
If your difficult person is a little bit of a bully, this could relate back to your self-confidence.
Bullies will tend to target people they perceive as weaker, and fewer confident; You may show an outward appearance of weakness to those around you.
Keep in mind that bullies are typically cowardly and weak within themselves, putting on an outward appearance of strength and overcompensating to make up for their flaws.
Often when someone stands up to the bully and displays confidence, the bully will back off.
The important thing to remember is that their reactions and behavior are generally about them, much more than they’re about you or the rest you have done.
If you can have empathy for the bully, you open your perspective on the situation, and have a far better sense of what to do next.
Compassion is a robust and evolved attribute, and it allows us to look deeper into a difficulty and the people involved.
Here’s a quote from Tom Hiddleston to remember: “When people do not like themselves very much, they’ve to make up for it. The classic bully is in fact the first victim.
9. Go if necessary
Of course, there were many times and situations where all the techniques in the world might not have the ability to help. In this case, you may must leave if necessary.
Don’t sabotage your career (2), but really going out and having a little bit of time with that person is a choice.
Sometimes these people can drag you into negativity, and there is nothing wrong with removing yourself from this environment.
Dealing with these people can wear you down, and carry over into your home life. In this case, it isn’t about winning the exchange, but removing yourself from that toxic environment.
Getting good at dealing with annoying people is really an exercise in mastering the art of communication.
By developing these techniques, you’ll find that many annoying people have less influence on you, and you stand to demonstrate dominance and confidence on your own, with less stress and better relationships with those around you. You.
You are on your way to becoming a change, and greater success in life. This is the strategy of the leaders!
Thanks for reading this article on how to deal with annoying coworkers and I actually hope you take action on my advice.
I wish you good luck and that I hope that its content has been a good help to you.
