Video:How to Deal With Difficult Coworkers

Transcript:How to Deal With Difficult Coworkers

Hi! This is Angela Lussier for About.com, and today you'll learn how to deal with difficult coworkers.

Tips for Dealing With Difficult Coworkers

First, you'll need to determine who are the difficult employees. Sometimes, it seems like it's an entire group of people, when in actuality it's often just one or two. Make sure you're pinpointing the people you really want to focus on and go from there. One way to do this is to pay attention to your interactions with each person.

More Tips for Dealing With Difficult Coworkers

This is one on one, and also when other people aren't around. How do they react? Is it different when other people aren't there? And what can you take from that interaction?Once you understand who is at the heart of the problem, you need to find out what motivates them and why are they acting this way. One way to have this meeting is to ask them to tell you about their jobs.

Additional Tips for Dealing With Difficult Coworkers

Find about their goals and challenges, and listen to the way they speak. Do they sound like they're upset, or they're discouraged, or maybe their boss doesn't listen to anything they say? Find out where their real pain points are, and you can use that information to make better decisions to help them. Once you've conducted these meetings, you now have a lot of information. You can use that information to suggest different trainings within the company.

Some examples of the kind of training you can suggest includes communication training, culture change training, or teamwork. It's possible that many departments don't work together, and by giving them other opportunities to find out more about each other, they may find appreciation and work a little bit harder. Bottom line: rather than ignoring the people you work with, find ways to help them by gathering information, understanding them and finding ways to help.

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