Susan Nudelman - Author Articles - I Done This Blog

5 Proven Strategies For Dealing With Difficult Coworkers

July 16, 2021 by Susan Nudelman Leave a Comment

dealing with difficult coworkers

At one point or another, everyone will need tips for dealing with difficult coworkers. It is key to develop your conflict resolution skills so that you can effectively get along with this person. As you gain guidance on how best to navigate around their behaviors, you will be able to focus more on getting your own work done.

Below are five proven strategies for dealing with difficult coworkers

Dealing with difficult people at work can be stressful and draining. With that being said, it is definitely possible to have positive interactions with difficult coworkers. The tips we are about to go over will have you sighing a breath of relief the next time you encounter yourself dealing with a challenging situation.

1. Learn how to communicate

dealing with difficult coworkers

If you are dealing with a difficult coworker, it may be time to confront the situation. When you do decide it is time to speak with your coworker, make sure you use “I” language instead of “you” language so they better understand your perspective. When you use “you” language, it makes it hard for the other person to take responsibility for their actions.

Here are some examples of how you scan switch up your language when dealing with a difficult coworker:

“I feel upset when you speak to me that way.” vs. “You are always say the wrong things.”
“I feel that your behavior is making it hard for me to focus.” vs. “You are acting irritating.”
“I feel unheard, do you have time to talk?” vs. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”
“I feel like you don’t understand me and it’s making me upset” vs. “You just don’t understand me!”

When providing feedback, here are some additional tips for an effective conversation:

Shoot for comfortable eye contact.
Keep an open mind.
Watch out for non-verbal signals so you know how the other person is feeling.
Don’t just describe your feelings. Make a request for what you would like to see happen next and come up with a plan of action.
Focus on the behavior that is bothering you. Don’t make it about the person.

2. Have Boundaries When Dealing With Difficult People At Work

dealing with difficult coworkers

Assertive people take responsibility for their actions. When they have an incident where those boundaries are crossed from a coworker, they don’t take responsibility for that person’s actions. They have limits in place and will not stand for people taking advantage of them. This person knows to use the “I” vs. “you” statements we cover above. Furthermore, difficult coworkers become quickly aware that they can’t push an assertive person to go along with what they want. Known, clear boundaries will dissipate the potential for conflict to appear.

3. Learn empathy

dealing with difficult coworkers

When dealing with a difficult coworker, it is easy to just become defensive. What you want to do instead is to try and understand where they are coming from. What do they need that they are not getting? Perhaps they are seeking acknowledgement or recognition. Instead of thinking how you can get back at this person, ask yourself how you may be able to create a win-win situation.

4. Become proactive

dealing with difficult coworkers

Dealing with difficult coworkers can leave you feeling emotionally and physically drained. One way to avoid this is to be proactive about your own career objectives. What do you want to accomplish in the next couple of years? The more you focus on yourself and what you want to accomplish, the more difficult people fade away to the background.

5. Be solution oriented

dealing with difficult coworkers

When it comes to difficult coworker tips, a key strategy is to be solution oriented. It will always be easier to turn away from conflict, but that will not solve anything. They key is to resist that urge and challenge yourself to come up with a constructive solution to the issue at hand. You need to approach these uncomfortable situations by staying curious and asking open-ended questions. Listen with an open mind and without judgment and the best answer will more easily appear.

Dealing With Difficult People At Work Can Be Positive

When it comes to our jobs, we are not always able to choose whom we work with. What we do have control over is how we engage with others. Try and learn from situations that you experience with others. Approach them with understanding rather than frustration and you will come out the other side a better teammate and leader.

How To Be An Effective Team Manager In 2021

July 2, 2021 by Susan Nudelman Leave a Comment

Do you have effective team management skills? If employees are unhappy with their supervisors, rest assured they are out job hunting. According to a study done by Gallup, 50% of employees leave their companies because of their boss. If your business is suffering from constant turnover, you need to learn how to manage a team successfully.

Below are five skills you need to be an effective team manager in 2021

1. You can see the bigger picture

Leaders need to be able to unite their team under one shared vision. You don’t want to get caught up in the day to day minutiae. That just leads to putting out fires and productivity goes down the tube. Once you have that vision clear in your head, you need to be able to communicate it well to your team. Any goals you do come up with should be re-assessed on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis.

2. Communication is key

When it comes to how to manage a team successfully, you need toy know how to communicate effectively. What you think and what you say need to be aligned so that employees understand the ultimate goals of your team. Here are some things you need to be able to communicate:

The priorities of the team
What the long term goals are
A sense of gratitude
What the strategy is and how will it be executed

Being that all employees have different communication styles, try and understand what those are and tailor your own communication. If you don’t feel like you are a great communicator, take the time to put down a plan on paper. Don’t show up to meetings winging it.

3. You need to be organized

Organization comes easy for some and is a battle for others. It is more than just keeping your desk clutter free. You need to be able to keep your projects organized so that deadlines are met. Lucky for you, there are plenty of tools to help you be more productive.

4. Be a Problem-Solver

Problems can be lurking around the corner for any manager no matter how well prepared they are. Whether it is a budgeting problem or a missed deadline, an effective team manager is a skilled problem-solver. You need to be able to evaluate a challenge, come up with solutions and execute them effectively. This is a necessary skill of any team leader.

5. Exude Confidence

Confidence is great and if you feel you are lacking a healthy dose of it, don’t worry. Confidence is a practiced skill and something anyone can get a hold of. It is about knowing yourself well and what your strength and weaknesses are. Your strengths you can leverage for success and recognizing your weaknesses and working on them can lead you on the same path.

Take a personality test like Myers-Briggs or DISC assessments. Tests like these provide an objective look at your strengths and weaknesses.

6. Fairness Is Key

When it comes to effective team management strategies, being fair is key. Favoritism is not something that employees will tolerate without frustration. You will naturally be drawn to certain team members more so than others, but blatantly expressing those feelings can be poisonous to your teams. In order to make sure the playing field feels even for everyone, never leave anyone out of a lunch date or any other outing. If there is an issue in the office, that needs to be dealt with fairly. If one party knows that you like one of them better over the other, you can guarantee the situation will not end well.

Team Building Activities: Five Ideas That Will Boost Productivity

June 22, 2021 by Susan Nudelman Leave a Comment

team building activities

Team building activities are a great way to get coworkers to step outside of their normal workday and engage with coworkers in creative ways. If done correctly, the right team building activities will help boost both work productivity and employee engagement. In fact, according to research on employee engagement by Gallup Polls, those individuals that have developed friendships at the office are twice as likely to be more engaged with their work.

Below are six team building activities that will help boost work productivity and engagement among employees

1. Figure out team strengths and weaknesses

Engaging in an activity that will help assess employees strengths and weaknesses will provide better understanding of how they affect their interactions with others. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of coworkers’, employees will:

Develop a greater respect for the talents of their team members
Better understand what each persons’ personal drivers are
Know which team members to rely on for certain strengths

2. Reward team achievement of goals

When it comes to goals in the workplace, personal incentives are relied on to reward individual achievement of goals. In an effort to boost work productivity, incentives should be tied to team goals. This will help teams to work and celebrate together as a group when goals are achieved.

3. Allow team members to learn from one another

Allowing team members the opportunity to share their knowledge is a great team building activity. Whether it’s sharing a job skill or highlighting a team member’s interests, learning opportunities are abound. Here are just some positives that come from allowing team members to share something about themselves:

Allows employees to highlight their strengths
Each team member will feel more valued
Recognizing one another outside of work
Employees feel more comfortable being themselves

4. Work in team sports

Getting employees moving is a great team building activity. Whether you organize a one-time event or you decide to make movement a regular thing, there are plenty of options. Team workout classes, charity runs, spartan races are all great ideas. Here are some other ideas you can put together on your own:

Beach volleyball
Intramural soccer, basketball, softball or any other sport
Put together a tournament for Ping pong or kickball
Axe throwing, laser tag or Paintball
Yoga
Social dancing. Think country line dancing!
Do a field day like you did in school. Obstacle courses, relays etc.

5. Learn together

A super effective team building activity is engaging in professional development as a team activity. Take work out of the picture and learn something new together. Team members bond and learn about one another. Here are some ideas for ways to learn as a group:

Attend a training event
Join your local chamber of commerce
Take a pottery class
Sign up for group tennis lessons

6. Do a TED talk group viewing

Ted Talks provide great videos that are both inspiring and thought provoking. As a group, choose some topics that are of interest to your team and schedule a time to view the videos together. Before the event, come up with a few questions to stir up some discussions among team members. Be sure to have everyone provide input and before you know it, there will be an invigorating conversation taking place. Here are just some of the topics you can find TED Talks on:

Building stronger connections with others
Making career changes
Unleashing your natural creativity
How to have honest conversations at work
Improving relationships with money

7. Serve the community

Finding an activity that involves giving back is a great way to not only build perspective but helps build comradery among the group. Here are a few ideas on ways to volunteer as a team:

Check out Habitat for Humanity and build a house
Spend time at a local animal shelter
Help serve at a food pantry
Organize a beach clean-up or pick up litter around the neighborhood

Work Productivity Hacks 2021: Five Tips To Boost Office Efficiency

June 16, 2021 by Susan Nudelman Leave a Comment

work productivity hacks

Work productivity hacks is something any business and/or individual could use to help boost work performance. From productivity software to all the best tools and techniques, the right changes can make a real difference when it comes to productivity. Below we cover key work productivity hacks that will have you feeling accomplished when you leave work at the end of the day.

1. Incorporate a free work day into the week

No, we are not talking about taking the day off. We are talking about incorporating a day that is free from appointments, meetings or designated tasks. By doing this, you are able to use that free day to work on any projects without any interruptions.

2. Try Out The Pomodoro Technique

Invented by software developer Paul Klipp, the Pomodoro Technique is a key work productivity hack. It consists of putting in intense work for 25 minutes and then taking 5-minute breaks. The thought process is that you will be able to focus that much better on one single task instead of multi-tasking and wasting hours of precious time on multi-tasking.

3. Use Post-It Notes

A great work productivity hack is to jot down your three most important tasks at the beginning of every work day. By implementing a habit like this, you know where you need to focus. It will help you also see how to organize the rest of your tasks as well as how to delegate tasks to other teammates.

4. Try the “2 minute rule”

Within David Allen’s bestselling book, Getting Things Done, there is a powerful technique that is a great work productivity hack. If you have a small task that can be completed within 2 minutes, get it done right then and there. This “obvious” hack is a key way to keep procrastination at bay.

5. Have A Plan For Your Email

Checking email is one of the most invasive time suckers. According to Entrepreneur.com, Americans spend about 11 hours per week on email. The best work productivity hack that will help you avoid your email from taking over, is to set up a schedule for your email. Unless it is absolutely necessary, emails do not need to be responded to the moment they hit your inbox. You should come up with a time for when you will check your email and when you will respond. Any easy set-up is to do this morning, afternoon and evening. By doing this, you will be able to focus on whatever task you have in front of you.