5 Difficult Office Personalities and How to Deal With Them

These difficult personalities are everywhere … both inside and outside the office … so take whatever chance you have to practice these sanity-saving tips.

1. 5 Difficult Office Personalities and How to Deal With Them

2. The Bullies

3. Intimidating, arrogant, need to be right.

4. Your strategy: Stand up to them calmly, not defiantly. ✔ Don’t engage them in confrontation, because you won’t win. ✔ Once you’ve earned their respect, you may become friends! ✔

5. The Whiners

6. Eager to find fault but reluctant to take responsibility.

7. Your strategy: Listen closely, in case they just need to vent. ✔ Ask them to propose solutions. ✔ Don’t condone their victim role; it will only reinforce it. ✔

8. The Walking Dead

9. Despite body language to the contrary, insist nothing is wrong.

10. Your strategy: Use open-ended questions that they can’t just nod to answer. ✔ Ask a question, and then look at them silently for as long as it takes until they respond. ✔ Tell them what you think may be going on, and ask if your interpretation is correct. ✔

11. The “Yes” People

12. Have great intentions but overcommit and can’t follow through.

13. Your strategy: Show them that you care about them so they can stop trying so hard to please you. ✔ Help them realize that being honest with you won’t risk your friendship. ✔ Don’t let them take on more than you know they can handle. ✔

14. The Doom-and-Gloomers

15. Assume everything and everyone will disappoint them, based on past experience.

16. Your strategy: Value them as the people who foresee obstacles. ✔ Don’t argue with them, because they can’t be persuaded. ✔ Steer them away from broad generalizations and demand specific examples. ✔