LAST week’s column described several undesirable characters in the workplace. Though you may not like to have such individuals as colleagues, unfortunately you cannot choose the people you work with.
And no matter where you go, you will tend to meet with one or two if not all of those characters. Hence, instead of running away from them or simply suffering because of their undesirable traits, you should learn how to deal and work with these colleagues so that you will not suffer from unnecessary stress and make your working life miserable.
If you have bossy and overpowering colleagues in the workplace, you need to carefully take note of what they say and discern whether the threats or discouraging words make sense or not. If you are unsure, you can always check with the other senior colleagues about the statement or situation. If whatever they say is untrue, then you should not feel threatened by it.
When the threat is a serious one and you feel very uncomfortable with the threat, you can bring the matter to your superior. However, be prepared for the worst. For instance, your superior might support the one who made the threat and may not give you a fair solution. Your superior might just ignore you or if your superior is biased, he might reprimand you even though you did no wrong.
Hence, before you bring the matter to your superior, you need to prepare yourself for two possible outcomes. One, you will be justified or the second one may result in disappointment with the unjust treatment. However, at least you will get to know the type of working environment you are in. If management is unable to offer a fair and just working environment, it might be wiser for you to move to greener pastures.
As for those colleagues who think they are always right, the best way is to minimise your conversation with them. You will never get any constructive statements from them since they are unable to offer any objective views. Just keep a friendly distance from them. If you happen to get involved in any dispute with them, just state your reasons. Though they may not admit that they are wrong, they will not accuse you of doing the wrong things when you have reasonable cause. They might add one or two statements to justify their actions. Just let them have their final say as long as it is clear that you are not at fault.
When you encounter passive shoe polishers, you can just simply ignore them. As much as they like to flatter the higher authority, they do not cause great harm to those around them. However, aggressive or ambitious shoe polishers are cunning and they are those who will step on others to impress those in power. It requires great wisdom to deal with them. When you have this kind of colleagues, make sure that you do your work well, cooperate with others well and allow no chance for them to take the credit or to discredit you.
Working with unsure superiors means you can never get clear solutions or instructions from them. One solution is to ask for guidance from other senior and experienced staff and slowly work your way out. When you stay long enough and observe attentively, you will eventually learn how things work. However, if you feel the matter is of great importance, such as when it concerns your company’s reputation, you may refer the case to a higher authority. However, bear in mind that your supervisor might not be pleased with you crossing over his or her line of authority. So unless it is of utmost importance, try not to cross that line.
Working with colleagues who do not care much about anything else other than themselves is frustrating. However, you can take on a positive outlook and see the extra workload as an opportunity for you to learn more or to train yourself better. If the workload becomes too heavy, you may need to raise your concerns to your superior so that you will not be overwhelmed with too many responsibilities.
The best way to deal with critical colleagues is to listen to their criticism in an objective way and ask others for their opinions. Do not just take in all their negative comments and let your spirit be dampened by them. While they may speak the truth, it may not be as serious as it sounds. So keep an open and positive mind. Take their comments as an opportunity for you to improve yourself. Be thankful that they have pointed out your shortcomings so that you can improve and become a more efficient individual.
Priscilla Hiu is a career guidance consultant of Gracia Management and a certified behavioural consultant of DISC Personality Profiling System, Institution of Motivation Living, USA and Extended DISC Personality Profiling System, Extended DISC Northgate.