Techniques for dealing with difficult colleagues and bosses

Do you feel that sometimes others are not hearing you or you are not being respected?

Do you feel intimidated by family members or colleagues who speak over you or at you?

Here you will find some useful tips and tricks, and learn the difference between ineffective communication and effective communication.

How to be ineffective

How to be effective:

 
Simple, effective phrases for difficult colleagues

1. "When you do …... The effects are ..... I would prefer it if you did … "

2. "Have I done something to offend you?"

3. "Using derogatory remarks towards me won't work."

4. Look bored, wave them away and say, “I don’t have time for your nonsense, stop it”

5. If a colleague is putting you down, e.g, “You have taken twice as long as... to do this report”, respond, “I would say it's more like three times as long”

6. "Do you treat everyone this way or am I your favourite?"

7. "Why do you enjoy being so offensive?"

8. "Did something happen I don’t know about?"

9. "If you have an issue with me, please let me know. I expect to be treated with respect."

10. "If you want to continue this discussion, you need to be respectful to me."

11. "I won’t respond to you whilst you talk at me in such an aggressive way. If you wish to continue the conversation, you need to speak to me in a respectful tone."

12. "This is as far as I will go on this issue."

13. "This is my bottom line, and I am therefore unable to accommodate you in this instance."

14. "If our team is to work cohesively, then you must keep us updated and not withhold information."

15. "Even though I have reminded you daily by email, you still have not complied, which is unacceptable."

16. "I am not interested in those types of comments."

17. "I understand what you are saying. Next, we need to discuss."

Effective phrases for difficult bosses.

1. "Comments like that are unproductive and create bad feelings."

2. "I would like to improve my performance, but remarks such as that give me no direction."

3. "I want to excel in this company, but hearing that I am not living up to your expectations does not give me a sense of direction."

4. "Please let me know what results you expect and how I can recognise them once I have reached them."

5. "Are you aware of your inappropriate remarks?"

6. "You are wasting your time as I don’t allow anyone to speak down to me"

7. "You will not speak to me in that tone."

8. "I do not converse with anyone who talks at me or down to me"

Stand up and be assertive, not aggressive, and do not let yourself down by people pleasing. 

You deserve to be treated with respect, so you need to teach others how to respect you.  

Why? Because you are worth it!