How to Deal with Differing Personalities at Work
The office can be an awesome place where you meet some of your best friends, or it can be a place full of clashing personalities. If you’re in an office environment where everyone gets along and works well together, you’re lucky! Not every office environment has the means to say that— some are totally miserable between the hours of 9-5. Luckily, there’s a solution to navigating those conflicting personalities. Check out our guide on the subject and let us know if you have any tips for dealing with clashing office personalities!
Why Does it Matter?
While many can wander into their office at 8 a.m. and close the door until 5, most people need some sort of socialization throughout their work day. To be honest, this socialization and comradery with your co-workers is vital to company success and efficient team work. Without it, you have disjointed groups that can’t work together without tension or miscommunication. Check out what TelephoneDoctor has to say about the importance of effective teamwork:
“Effective teamwork is critically important for excelling in a highly competitive marketplace. Dysfunctional teams are bad for business. Not getting along with a team member at work is unpleasant for everyone and harms productivity. An ongoing personality clash may be unspoken but obvious, and the disagreements that result can cause other team members to take sides and sort themselves into cliques. The results can be troublesome for your organization.” Furthermore, “personality clashes can lead to unhealthy rivalry, lack of cooperation, poor communication, an unpleasant work environment, and disputes and clashes in the workplace. The problem is that we don’t like to admit that we simply don’t like a person for no reason.”
Examples of Office Personalities
One awesome source, National Pen listed examples galore of different, common office personality stereotypes. From the one teammate that’s always yelling or that one person who feels the need to give too much information, we think these will be all too relatable. Give them a look and see if you’re on the list or if you recognize any of them.
The Passive Aggressor
The Backstabber
The Kitchen Slob
The Chatterbox
The Delegator
The Workaholic
The Noisemaker
The Meeting Scheduler
The Gossiper
The Debbie Downer
The Email Overloader
The TMI Sharer
While many of these personalities are slightly in jest, it’s true how every office, no matter the size, has different types of employees, each with their own little idiosyncrasies that may or may not agitate you. And guess what? That’s okay! It’s okay to have a variety of personalities or else it would be boring. Working with a bunch of “John Smiths from South Carolina” would get so old so quickly. However, it’s obvious too that not everyone is going to get along or love one another. So, if one of the “office types” on the list is your ‘office nemesis’, keep reading. We’re not going to leave you out to dry--we have solutions.
Solutions
By now you’re probably thinking “I have 5 of those types in my office and none of them get along” OR, “I am one of those types and I can’t stand one of the other types listed!” Before you lose your cool and act in haste, consider our 5 Solutions first!
Here are a few “Skill Tips from TelephoneDoctor:
The key to dealing with a personality clash with a co-worker is just to accept it for what it is: irrational.
It’s not easy to accept that we’re being irrational when we don’t like someone, so we invent things that are wrong with them to justify our point of view. And you can bet that people are going to do the same thing with us, too. Again, the key to dealing with a personality clash with a co-worker is just accept it for what it is: irrational. It doesn’t mean the co-worker doesn’t do a good job or that he or she needs to be your enemy, but you probably should talk about it with that person.
Talk to the person with whom you have the conflict privately to allow for honest communication between the two of you.
You should admit your part in the conflict first. Say something like, “I seem to have caused a problem between us.” By first admitting your part in the conflict, you will be halfway to a solution. You’ve already defused the situation and paved the way for a productive conversation where both parties are receptive.
Here are a few of OUR Tips:
Avoid Inter-Office Gossip- Have you ever heard the saying that it’s okay to dislike people but don’t invite others to dislike them too? Basically, it’s okay that you don’t like Bobby in Accounting, really, it is. But don’t go over to Greg and Karen and say “Wow Bobby is so annoying he did _______.” This pulls your friends into your dislike and now Greg and Karen may not like Bobby or may be sensitive to his quirks. It can be a really horrible, toxic, domino effect and you really have to be careful what you do and don’t share about those you work with.
Wait Before Responding- It happens all the time - you get an email from the one person you’re not too fond of and it rubs you the wrong way. What do you do? You’re seething from frustration and your first reaction is to rip their heads off - STOP. Before you start tearing into them via Gmail, think rationally. Wait a minute. Take a deep breath. Don’t send a nasty email. What is that going to do for you? Get your boss involved in office drama? No. Wait an hour, collect your thoughts, reel in your emotions, and THEN respond. But respond calmly. If your co-worker is truly awful, then it’s a good chance others see and feel the same way, you don’t need to make a big stink about it and look just as awful. Be polite, always. You’re at work, not on Facebook!
Try to Weigh out the Pros over the Cons- When you realize you feel a sense of distaste towards someone, ask yourself why? What happened to make me dislike Bobby in Accounting? Has he done anything to me personally? How has my experience been with him? Do I dislike him because my co-workers do? Weigh out the pros and cons of your co-worker and think about what is so bad about them and do so honestly. Have a bit of integrity and think as an unbiased individual.
Remember, when you’re dealing with difficult co-workers, act rationally and with patience. It’s never worth it to be malicious or lose your temper - just be respectful, avoid said employee if you have to, and get your work done! After all, you’re getting paid to work - not make friends.