Dealing with a Difficult Colleague
Like everybody, I've certainly had to deal with a difficult colleague on occasion. This could be colleagues who don't pull their weight or have been to ready to blame other people when things go wrong, or even colleagues who have an unpleasant and unprofessional attitude. Whilst I can't say that I particularly enjoy confrontation, I don't mind making my opinion about things known, especially when I can see that it is affecting other members of my team.
I'm working with a colleague at the moment who is quite difficult. We're a close knit team and I don't think that team work is her strongest point. She has upset quite a lot of people in the office by asking people to stop having conversations that aren't work related, or being very confrontational if she sees anyone looking at a website that isn't work related or taking a personal call at work. Whilst my manager has said time and time again that she doesn't mind people taking a break here and there, this particular colleague doesn't like it when other people aren't working and she is. I don't believe in clashing with colleagues, and I believe it is much more proactive to try to understand them to work through any difficulties that you might have. None of us understood why she took, what we believed to be banter that was important for team building, so personally. But I made an effort to try to understand her and in the end, she opened up to me a bit. It was revealed that, as she was new to the organisation and we had all known each other for some time, she was so concerned about making a good impression that the importance of team building and getting to know people wasn't her primary concern. I think it's important to realise that if you can communicate with people effectively, then you often find that someone, with whom you initially had difficulties, once you've reached an understanding, can become a valued co-worker, and that's certainly been the case here.