Dealing with a difficult colleague can be exhausting and time-consuming, so don’t waste your time on unproductive tactics such as:
- Sucking it up. Suppressing your emotions isn’t healthy or helpful. Find a safe space to share your feelings and a way to express your concerns to the difficult colleague in a constructive way.
- Fighting fire with fire. Responding to rudeness or disrespect in kind is likely to encourage the person to continue with their bad behavior.
- Spreading the word. It can be tempting to send a group email to tell others about the person’s bad behavior. However, that rarely inspires better behavior. In fact, it is more likely to make the person defensive.
- Hoping the problem person will just go away. Even it it appears promising that the person might leave, don’t put all your eggs in that basket. Strategize solutions that assume you will continue to be working with the person.
Don’t try to resolve a difficult situation alone. Seek help from a trustworthy source. Know what you can and can’t do ethically and legally. However, if the situation escalates to threats or violence, report it immediately.
