Dealing With Difficult People

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‘Understand that everyone behaves differently to you.’

‘Welcome the differences around you, and only see them as a problem when they are a barrier to results.’

‘Keep asking: are you on the same wavelength as others?’

‘If you are to bring about successful change, study the change process?’

‘Be assertive yourself and encourage the same behavior in others.’

‘Look what’s behind the behaviour before you decide how to respond.’

‘How well do you manage your own emotions and emotions of others?

‘Know yourself if you are to work successfully with others.’

For others to have confidence in you, develop your own confidence.’

‘To understand yourself better, ask how others perceive you.’

‘Before you can influence others, first see the world from their perspective.’

‘Form a clear, specific view of the difficult person before tackling the problem.’

‘Ask yourself how people are different to you before you try to change things.’

‘If you want people to change, appeal to what turns them on.’

‘Seek to be trusted before you seek to persuade or change.’

‘If you want to work harmoniously with people, allow for cultural differences.’

‘Is your leadership there to see?’

‘Unless you want to be at everybody else’s mercy, start with the end in mind.’

‘Use measures of success as a regular tool to motivate those around you.’

Reward anyone doing the things that drive the organization forward.’

‘Will you reinforce the behaviours that you want to see?’

‘Whatever your position, communicate, communicate, communicate.’

‘Don’t rush to apportion blame. Do the diagnosis to find the real problem.’

‘Ask yourself- what is stopping the task from getting done?’

‘Be aware of the unwritten agreements that exist in the workplace.’

‘Be aware of the value of a third party for offering and objective view.’

‘Accept that different types are needed in a successful team.’

‘Treat feedback to you as an opportunity for you to overcome obstacles.’

‘Recognize that how you say something and your body language are often more important than the words themselves.’

‘Put a bit of thought into any meeting where you anticipate difficulty with someone.’

‘Join in with other people’s ‘dances’ if you want to communicate with them.’

‘Aim to ‘express your concern’ rather than ‘complain’.’

Before you seek to influence, ask yourself, who has the power?’

‘Make learning a shared experiences in order to develop good relationships.’

‘Take time to understand their situation before you label someone difficult.’

‘Check the symptoms and root causes before you decide how to approach your problem person.’

‘If you want good relationships with those around you, get alongside each other!’

Source:

David Brown (2011). The Art and Science of Dealing with Difficult People

Why Ideas Are Not Enough

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‘We can create new realities for ourselves, but only when we let go of the ideas that we’re uniquely defective.’

‘Many of us have poor team alignment not because the people on our team are in conflict but because we’re not communicating to our team what we want, need, and dream to be.’

‘The more an idea matters to you, the more you’ll thrash, precisely because its success or failure is deeply important to you.’

‘Not doing your best work leads to creative constipation- at a certain point, you’re too toxic to take new ideas in because you’re not getting them out.’

‘The nature of our best work is that we’re never done, and many of us create work and projects that carry on even after our death. The finish of one project is just the start of many others.’

‘You have to let go of projects and ideas that aren’t allowing you to thrive so you can trade up to the projects that do.’

‘If a project doesn’t have start and completion dates, it’s not likely that it’s going to get done.’

‘It’s easy to see what led to the big win when you have been celebrating and keeping up with all the small wins along the way.’

‘People, in handling affairs,

Often come close to completion and fail

If they are as careful in the end as the beginning

Then they would have no failure.’

‘The more it matters to you, the greater the need for downtime and transition time after finishing your project.’

‘Every best-work project you finish leaves more of your fingerprints on the universe.’

Source:

Charlie Gilkey (2019). Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done