Tip Tuesday

10 Tips for Dealing With Difficult People at Work

Difficult coworkers. In every workplace, you will have difficult coworkers. Dealing with difficult coworkers, bosses, customers, clients, and friends is an art worth perfecting. Dealing with difficult situations at work is challenging, yet rewarding. You can increase your skill at dealing with the difficult people who surround you in your work world. These tips will help you in dealing with difficult people at work.

 

1. Rise Above the Fray: Dealing With Difficult People at Work

Difficult people do exist at work. Difficult people come in every variety and no workplace is without them. How difficult a person is for you to deal with depends on your self-esteem, your self-confidence and your professional courage. Dealing with difficult people is easier when the person is just generally obnoxious or when the behavior affects more than one person. Dealing with difficult people is much tougher when they are attacking you or undermining your professional contribution.

2. How to Deal With a Bully at Work

Think you work with a bully? Do you regularly feel intimidated, dread to work anywhere near a particular coworker, or you’re yelled at, insulted, and put down? Does a coworker talk over you at meetings, criticize your performance, or steal credit for your work? If you answer yes to these questions, chances are good that you’re one of 54 million Americans, who have been attacked by a bully at work. Learn about dealing with difficult people at work.

 

3. How to Deal With a Negative Coworker

Some people exude negativity. They don’t like their jobs or they don’t like their company. Their bosses are always jerks and they are always treated unfairly. The company is always going down the tube and customers are worthless. You know these negative Neds and Nellies – every organization has some. Here are tips for dealing with difficult, negative coworkers.

 

4. Overcome Your Fear of Confrontation and Conflict

Meaningful confrontation is never easy but conflict is often necessary if you want to stick up for your rights at work. Whether the confrontation is over shared credit, irritating coworker habits and approaches, or about how to keep a project on track, sometimes you need to hold a confrontation with a coworker. The good news is that while confrontation is almost never your first choice, you can become better and more comfortable with necessary conflict. Find out how dealing with difficult conflicts at work is easier and more positive with these steps.

 

5. Play Well With Others: Develop Effective Work Relationships

You can submarine your job and career by the relationships you form at work. No matter your education, experience, or title, if you can't play well with others, you won't succeed. Effective relationships create success and satisfaction on the job. Learn more about seven effective work relationship musts. Combat dealing with difficult people with these work relationship musts.

 

6. How to Hold a Difficult Conversation 

Have you encountered any of these examples of dealing with difficult people at work? They're just samples of the types of behavior that cry out for responsible feedback. These steps will help you hold difficult conversations when people need professional feedback. Dealing with a difficult conversation can have positive outcomes.

 

7. What Coworker Behavior Drives You Crazy?

Most people have pet peeves about their coworkers. And, why not? Even relatively sane and likeable people do things that can drive their coworkers to distraction. Vote in my poll about what coworker behavior drives you crazy. Share your tips for dealing with difficult coworkers. Or, share your coworker's behavior that lights your fuse.

 

8. Dealing With Difficult Bosses

Nothing is more destructive in the workplace than difficult bosses. Every employee has a series of bosses over their working career. Hopefully, most of your bosses are competent, kind, and even, worthy of your trust and respect. Unfortunately, too often, employees have difficult bosses who impact their desire to engage and contribute at work. Learn how dealing with difficult bosses is a skill you can develop.

9. Team Building With Coworkers

You want to be well known and liked among the people the company regards as super stars, allies who have power and will speak up for you. (In fact, you can achieve job security if you are viewed as a super star.) Building alliances at work is smart, effective for developing positive coworker relationships, and crucial for dealing with difficult or destructive coworker behavior in the workplace.

 

10. How to Manage Gossip

Gossip is rampant in most workplaces. Sometimes, it seems as if people have nothing better to do than gossip about each other. They gossip about the company, their coworkers, and their managers. They frequently take a partial truth and turn it into a whole speculative truth. Dealing with difficult situations involving gossip occurs in every workplace. Find out how dealing with difficult gossip is a must-do and a can-do. Obliterate gossip from your work place.

 

To view the original article CLICK HERE

Tip Tuesday

How to Deal With Favoritism at Work

 

Favoritism at work, whether real or perceived, can throw a wrench in team development and damage team and company morale. In most instances, favoritism results from poor management skills, such as the inability to relate to employees or a lack of interaction with all team members. Learning how to deal with favoritism in the workplace can help you deal with adversity and meet challenges head-on along your career path.

Instructions

1 - Take note of the situation. Consider if the favoritism is perceived or real. For instance, some workers may appear to receive preferential treatment at work; however, those in charge may simply see them as weak in certain areas and in need of additional help or guidance.

 

2 - Try to relate to the parties involved in the favoritism. If possible, get close to the situation, observe the relationship and find a way to connect to those involved. This will help reduce any feelings related to being on the outside of the relationship and will also help bring your skills and talents to management's attention.

3 - Build relationships with a diverse group of people, including employees and supervisors in other departments. Take part in company outings and attend company-sponsored trainings and team-building programs. Making your work and dedication known to others within the organization is the goal of branching out and networking within the company.

4 - Strive for excellence. Set your own goals and consistently challenge yourself to meet, or even exceed, them. Keep working toward your goals and eliminate the need to rely on your supervisor's friendship. Let your behavior, actions and habits related to your job performance speak for themselves and help propel you forward in the organization.

5 - Speak with human resources or a trusted manager when blatant favoritism occurs. Voice your concerns and provide any information relevant to the situation, such as a personal account of specific events. When voicing a complaint or concern, keep the conversation focused on specific examples and refrain from attacking anyone. Ask for advice on handling the situation while human resources personnel or management investigate the claims.

To view the original article CLICK HERE

Tip Tuesday

7 tips for balancing school, work, family... and everything else in your life

If you're anything like me, you're struggling to balance family responsibilities, a job (or two!), and time for yourself.

The danger in trying to do it all is that you risk things falling through the cracks. This can be especially true for women trying to go back to school.

The good news is that there are ways to make it work.

I recently spoke with life and career coach Meredith Haberfeld, founder of Meredith Haberfeld Coaching. She had a lot to share about ways to help balance school with work, family, and life.

Check out these 7 tips for balancing it all.

Tip #1 - Set attainable goals.

Pick realistic goals and focus on accomplishing them. Every success could give you more confidence to tackle the next goal.

If you can only manage to fit one business class into your busy schedule, for example, then just take one class and give it your full attention.

"When a goal seems big and daunting, one of the smartest places to start is to break it into the different pieces that will build toward the goal," says Haberfeld. "When you break it into smaller bits, each bit is more manageable."

Tip #2 - Make a schedule.
Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done?

Try sitting down with your schedule to get a handle on how much time you actually have. Look for the pockets of time between your professional and family obligations and see where you can plan in the time you need for homework.

"That small amount of planning makes the experience of dealing with a full life profoundly more manageable and fulfilling," says Haberfeld.

If your day still feels too hectic, consider going to sleep and getting up earlier. You might be surprised at what you can accomplish in the hour or two before the rest of the house wakes up.

Tip #3 - Stay organized.

"A place for everything and everything in its place" may sound simplistic, but the benefits of keeping your physical space organized go far beyond simply knowing where your car keys are hiding.

"Having our physical space organized makes thinking easier... When our physical space is hectic, our thoughts are more hectic," says Haberfeld.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, Haberfeld suggests spending fifteen minutes to organize one small area in your home or office. It might be just the thing you need to bring order to your thoughts as well.

Another tip: Don't forget to keep your calendar updated. If you can see deadlines coming, you're more likely to prepare ahead of time and save yourself from pulling an all-nighter to finish a project or cram for a test.

Tip #4 - Take breaks when you need them.

Going back to school is a big commitment - whether you're in a medical assisting certificate program or a bachelor's degree in business.

Feel yourself getting overwhelmed? Give yourself permission to take a break. That might mean closing the books, going for a quick walk - or taking a night off from studying altogether.

If you find yourself burning the midnight oil for weeks on end, Haberfeld suggests working downtime into your schedule. "It's important to plan time to relax," she says, "or you become less effective."

Tip #5 - Stay focused.

When you're at school, really try to keep your thoughts on school. Don't think about the bills you have to pay at home, or who's going to take the kids to soccer practice.

Likewise, when you're with family, enjoy being with family. You can help keep these areas of your life separate by planning study time into your schedule - and making sure you use that time to study.

Tip #6 - Keep your eyes on the prize.

Trying to balance school with everything else in your life might be tough, so always try to remember why you're doing what you're doing. A little sacrifice and effort in school now could offer big dividends when you're taking that shiny new diploma on the job hunt with you.

It might help to write out your academic goals. How many courses do you need to take? What is your time line? Tracking your progress can be great motivation to keep moving forward.

Still feeling discouraged? Don't worry - it's natural to feel doubt when you're struggling to juggle so many things. Just try to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tip #7 - Don't expect perfection.

Last but not least: Remember that as much as you may want things to go exactly according to plan, life often has a way of changing those plans for us.

So maybe you don't cross off every single item on your daily to-do list. Do what you can do, and don't be too hard on yourself. Tomorrow is a new day.

To view the original article CLICK HERE

Making It Big Monday

Work-Life Balance Defined - What it really means!

Despite the worldwide quest for Work-Life Balance, very few have found an acceptable definition of the concept. Here's a proven definition that will positively impact your everyday value and balance starting today.

Let's first define what work-life balance is not.

Work-Life Balance does not mean an equal balance. Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities is usually unrewarding and unrealistic. Life is and should be more fluid than that.

Your best individual work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily basis. The right balance for you today will probably be different for you tomorrow. The right balance for you when you are single will be different when you marry, or if you have children; when you start a new career versus when you are nearing retirement.

There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance you should be striving for. The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives.

However, at the core of an effective work-life balance definition are two key everyday concepts that are relevant to each of us. They are daily Achievement and Enjoyment, ideas almost deceptive in their simplicity.

Engraining a fuller meaning of these two concepts takes us most of the way to defining a positive Work-Life Balance. Achievement and Enjoyment answer the big question "Why?" Why do you want a better income…a new house…the kids through college…to do a good job today…to come to work at all?

Most of us already have a good grasp on the meaning of Achievement. But let's explore the concept of Enjoyment a little more. As part of a relevant Work-Life Balance definition, enjoyment does not just mean "Ha-Ha" happiness. It means Pride, Satisfaction, Happiness, Celebration, Love, A Sense of Well Being …all the Joys of Living.

Achievement and Enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. You can't have one without the other, no more than you can have a coin with only one side. Trying to live a one sided life is why so many "Successful" people are not happy, or not nearly as happy as they should be.

You cannot get the full value from life without BOTH Achievement and Enjoyment. Focusing on Achievement and Enjoyment every day in life helps you avoid the "As Soon As Trap", the life dulling habit of planning on getting around to the joys of life and accomplishment "as soon as…."

My caffeine source is diet cola. But I'm a somewhat fussy diet cola drinker. I don't like cans or bottles, I like fountain. And there is a big difference in fountain drinks. So I know all the best fountains within a five-mile radius of my house and office. My favorite is a little convenience store near my home called Fitzgerald's.

Let's say I'm wandering into Fitzgerald's at 6 in the morning, in my pre-caffeinated state and the implausible happens. Some philosophical guy bumps into me, and says…. "Heh mister… what's your purpose in life?" Well even in that half-awake condition, I'd have an answer for him. I'd say, "You know, I just want to achieve something today and I want to enjoy something today. And if I do both of those things today, I'm going to have a pretty good day. And if I do both of those things every day, for the rest of my life… I'm going to have a pretty good life."

And I think that's true for all of us. Life will deliver the value and balance we desire …when we are achieving and enjoying something every single day…in all the important areas that make up our lives. As a result, a good working definition of Work-Life Balance is:

Meaningful daily Achievement and Enjoyment in each of my four life quadrants: Work, Family, Friends and Self.

Ask yourself now, when was the last time you Achieved AND Enjoyed something at work? What about Achieved AND Enjoyed with your family; your friends? And how recently have you Achieved AND Enjoyed something just for you?

Why not take 20 minutes on the way home from work and do something just for yourself? And when you get home, before you walk in the door, think about whether you want to focus on achieving or enjoying at home tonight. Then act accordingly when you do walk in the door.

At work you can create your own best Work-Life Balance by making sure you not only Achieve, but also reflect the joy of the job, and the joy of life, every day. If nobody pats you on the back today, pat yourself on the back. And help others to do the same.

When you do, when you are a person that not only gets things done, but also enjoys the doing, it attracts people to you. They want you on their team and they want to be on your team.


Simple concepts. And once you focus on them as key components of your day, they are not that hard to implement. So, make it happen, for yourself, your family and all the important individuals you care about…every day for the rest of your life… Achieve and Enjoy.

To view the original article CLICK HERE