TOXIC COLLEAGUE !! How to Deal with Them

Workplace is like our first home as we spend major parts of our lives in our workplace. Now if I look at a typical working day in my life it is majorly about the work I am doing and set everything else to go along with it. This is what I feel and I am sure most of you guys reading this blog will feel the same way . This is the sole reason why one should choose a job that they enjoy doing . Like for me my passion is my job as it gives me great sense of achievement and also its like having an affair with my job. But sometimes even if we have the dream job that we have been longing for , we have no control on who our colleagues will be and how will they turn out to be .

I always believed in the concept that work friends are different from real life friends . The difference is huge which we do not understand in the beginning but we start realising it with time . Though we can vent out almost anything to our real life friends but in true sense only our work friends can relate to the situation with a clear picture of how your manager does not consider any of your ideas or how a particular conflict that you have been trying to resolve is going unnoticed by the authorities and they never care .

This becomes more difficult when the person you want to rant about is the person next to your cubical or someone from your team . That is when your work days gets really difficult and you end up running your work experience .

I have listed below few traits of toxic colleagues and several options to deal with it .

#1. Controlling Colleagues.

Sometimes you start feeling that you are slowly giving in to a person who is always telling you what to do and what not to do in your work framework . They make you believe that they are trying to help you as they are either superior to you at work level or at knowledge level and has got the upper hand always .

Once you start realising that they are trying to boss over the kind of work you are doing , that’s it you need to draw the line there. Learning to say “NO” nicely and firmly is a very important skill that one must inculcate in order survive in a toxic work environment. Tell them that you would like do something with your own skills and would love no involvement from them to avoid any crossover. This should help you to keep them away .

#2 Colleagues who always put you down.

This type of person will be very nice to you but they will always look for opportunities to put you and your work down whenever they can . Initially this will hamper your self confidence and will make you thing twice about your work and skills. Always remember that is what they are aiming at . I always believed that criticism is the best way to polish my skills.

Ignorance is bliss . Try to ignore and never allow this to happen to you but in case if you are with a person like this then tell them why you are doing something and why you are doing it in a particular framework . Remember to keep it very short . Do not give out too much information or details about the framework .

#3 Colleagues who finds a negative outcome for every situation.

Healthy discussion and toxic complaining has a very thin line . When their manager gives them challenging work they start complaining that the manager is not good, heartless and biased wants to make them fail and not give promotion . On the other hand if the manager gives them not so challenging work and only admin work of ease then they come up with another issue that is the manager does not want to give them any credit or visibility and only the Manager wants to take all the credit and visibility . This kind of person will not only make their own lives restless but will also surround your thoughts with lot of negativity .

What should be done in such scenarios is that whenever they open their mouth and try to spread negativity just tell them that you can only see an opportunity to grow and up skill . Tell this couple of times and then they will stop coming and sharing their negative thoughts with you .

The last type of Colleagues are to be avoided at any time and as much as you can and they are the bellow type .

#4 Colleagues who are manipulative and play mind games .

Have you ever done something that you absolutely do not want to do and did it only because someone made you do it not by forcing you but by brainwashing you and convincing you .

There you go , they manipulated you , they play mind games and make you feel that they are your well wishers . In reality they are not your well wishers and only wants to get the job they want to be done by you.

These type of people are very sweet on the face and its very difficult to identify them with their face value . If you come across such kind of people then make sure that you try to maintain distance with them and cut them off when they try to manipulate your choices and opinions.

In all the above circumstances whenever you feel that the tension is increasing and causing your mental health instability just call it out directly and try to detach from them .

Always remember that your are in control of your decisions. Do not provide too much attention where it is not required . I try to combat this type of situations by meditating , listening to podcasts and looking for upgrading my skill .

HAVE ANY OF YOU COME ACROSS THIS KIND OF SITUATION AT WORK PLACE ?? COMMENT BELLOW AND SHARE YOUR BEST PRACTICES.

#toxicworkculture #toxicpeople