At work, people come in all varieties and there is no workplace where there are no difficult people to deal with. Their behavior effects everyone and working with is not at all easy. These difficult people come in variety as well, there are some who constantly talk, there are some who never listen, others always want to have the last words, some fail to keep commitments, and few are those who criticize anything that is not theirs. But they all have one thing in common and that is, you must address them. No matter what type of difficult people you find yourself with, dealing with them is must.

Following are the therapists approved strategies to deal with difficult people at the workplace:

Validate their feelings:

You don’t have control over others but you have control over your own emotions. When you find yourself confronted with difficult people, do not get irritated for what they are doing. Instead, imagine why they are acting the way they are and what you would have done in such a situation. Try to empathize and validate that feeling as this will shift your attitude from frustration to empathy towards that person.

Be clear and concise:

When you find yourself in an awkward situation, make things easy by saying what you are going through clearly to that person. When you will tell people what works and what doesn’t work for you, this will make the whole situation much more comfortable. Also, it will make your professional relationships stronger than before.

Set boundaries:

Being a people pleaser leads you to feeling stressful and resentful. It will make a huge difference when you will set your boundaries. You need to manage the expectations from other people by saying no to the things you cannot do. When you will set your boundaries, it will accommodate not only you but a lot of other people.

Learning these strategies can help you a lot to navigate difficult and uncomfortable situations.

Via: Business Insider