How do you deal with difficult people Summary?
- Understand what makes difficult people tick and how best to handle them.
- Learn ways to confidently stand up to others and resist the urge to attack back.
- Develop strategies to calmly navigate emotionally-charged situations.
- Start by identifying the root cause. ...
- Don't get defensive, stay calm. ...
- Know when and how to bring in support. ...
- Understand when to escalate.
- Be objective and give context. The first thing you do not want to do in an interview setting after being asked this question is engage in a blame game. ...
- Detail how you resolved the situation. ...
- Explain what you learnt from the experience.
- Don't Take It Personally. As difficult as it is, don't take your coworker's actions personally. ...
- Develop Rapport. ...
- Stand Up for Yourself. ...
- Practice Empathy. ...
- Practice Self-regulation. ...
- Hone Your Self-awareness. ...
- Get Support.
“I would deal with a difficult co-worker by first making sure I wasn't contributing to the situation in a negative way. I would then sit down with them in private to find an amicable way forward. I would find out what was important to them.
- Consider an instance in which you experienced a specific challenge with a coworker. ...
- Speak objectively while explaining the premise of the situation. ...
- Reflect on the experience and take ownership of your own actions.
- Help them get perspective or move on. This month, I worked on a team where one person was overly wrapped up in her own drama. ...
- Help them express themselves. ...
- Be direct. ...
- Let Crabby Cathy be just that. ...
- Show your empathy.
- Step 1: Label it. The key to solving problems before they get out of hand is to label it early on. ...
- Step 2: Start tracking. ...
- Step 3: Identify patterns. ...
- Step 4: Plan solutions. ...
- Step 5: Communicate expectations. ...
- Step 6: Monitor progress.
...
- Get more information. ...
- Provide feedback. ...
- Record negative behavior. ...
- Provide consistent action. ...
- Follow company policy. ...
- Schedule a follow-up meeting. ...
- Remain professional.
Give me an example of working with others where you did not agree. How well do you work with people who are different from you? Tell me about someone who has been difficult for you to work with in your job. What has been the most difficult situation for you to deal with in your current team?
Can you give me an example of when you have had to deal with a difficult customer and how you handled the situation?
During a shift, two angry customers approached me at the same time. One demanded a refund, and the other one was frustrated because someone gave them the wrong order. To resolve the situation, I apologised to both of them and explained that we're dealing with understaffing, which means one of the clients has to wait.
- Acknowledge the Situation. Sometimes people try to stay in denial when they face a tough situation. ...
- Develop a Plan. ...
- Seek Help When Necessary. ...
- Change What You Can. ...
- Identify What You Can't Change. ...
- Develop Coping Skills to Deal with Your Feelings. ...
- Focus on What You Can Gain.

- Do examine your own behavior before blaming the other person. ...
- Don't let it get personal. ...
- Do communicate what issues you're having. ...
- Don't get baited into unprofessional behavior. ...
- Do remind yourself of what you stand to gain by working with this person.
- Invite discussion and feedback. ...
- Simplify the message. ...
- Use visuals to help explain complex messages. ...
- Plan your timing. ...
- Increase face-to-face communication time. ...
- Be intentional with your body language. ...
- Use calming techniques. ...
- Look for ways to relate.
Learning to deal with difficult people is an important skill teens need to develop to ensure their future success. While research shows that supportive relationships are good for our mental and physical health, maintaining difficult relationships is detrimental to our health. Negative people can drain your energy.
Whenever we are faced with unreasonably difficult people, our instinct is to react with frustration and irritation. That, however, is the ticket to destruction. It causes tension to build in the work environment and can prove a serious threat to the productivity as well as the overall stability of the work environment.
- Set your intentions before the conversation occurs. ...
- Be professional and treat them with respect, but stand up for yourself if they're disrespectful to you. ...
- Don't focus on them as a person and the intricacies of their personality, but rather on the issue itself.
Demonstrating respect is the most important interaction that you can have dealing with the everyday people who populate your work life. Here's how to demonstrate respect when you're dealing with people.
The first step is to ask yourself what makes a person difficult. A difficult person is someone who lacks empathy and concern for others. People in the dark triad bunch are notoriously known to be difficult. They can make your workday hell.