How To Deal With Tricky Work Scenarios

Discussing the elephant(s) in the room...

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All of us have encountered awkward workplace scenarios, often centred on our fellow colleagues. This is an almost inevitable part of working with people, as not everyone has a high emotional intelligence, which is listed as one of the most valuable soft skills to have in the next century. Research done by Reality-Based Leadership found that up to 2.5 hours per day are lost due to “drama” in the workplace.

Anja van Beek, Talent Strategist, Leadership and HR Expert and Executive Coach, has in her career received many questions from employees asking how to deal with tricky situations at work. Here are some of the scenarios, and her advice on how to deal with it:

Reporting a lazy co-worker (and risk people in the work environment thinking less of you as a result).

Having a less productive colleague on part of your team can really be challenging. Unfortunately, we can’t change other people’s behaviour, but we can take responsibility for how we respond to a situation.

Think about your motive behind reporting your coworker? What is the outcome you want to achieve?

Have you tried to address this first with the colleague before feeling that you need to report this?