Navigating difficult work relationships – a brief guide

Most challenges come from engaging with others. This means that positive professional relationships are key to organisational and individual success, which is why it’s important to have this crucial skill of being able to navigate difficult work relationships.

Whether it is your clients, peers, those people you manage or more senior people in the firm, they all play a role in our working lives and help you deliver work for your clients.

Some simple yet powerful approaches for navigating difficult relationships

While each situation will be different and needs slightly different resolutions, I can offer you some simple but good solutions to get you started.

Do note that I work with my clients to understand the specifics of their difficult work relationships and help them develop lifelong professional skills they can use to support positive and effective business development. Here are some deceptively simple yet powerful approaches for you to try.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes

When we are assessing someone’s behaviour we’re seeing them in the light of how we behave and what we know, believe or assume. The key is to think about what could have made them behave in that way and look at it from their position of knowledge, beliefs and assumptions. A key question here is: why might it make sense to them? This will help you understand them better and hopefully relate better to them too.

 Listen

So few people really listen to others. It’s essential to hear what people are saying and what they are not (which can be just as important!). Also, give people space to talk, especially if they are an introvert and you’re not. People who feel hurried or crowded out will not reveal important things to you. When you listen, you will better understand the other person’s attitudes, motivations and beliefs, which will help you understand why they are acting the way they are.

Their working style

Take notice of others’ working style. Consider when you approach or interrupt someone. Are they a morning person? If so, 8am is might be the best time to have a difficult conversation rather than 3pm when their energy and concentration is waning.  Consider how you might need to adapt to each key person you work with.

Take action – four things to do now

Ignoring challenges and making no change rarely helps relationships improve. Most of us are conflict-averse, but in the long ru,n that often leads to greater problems. Time spent considering your work relationships is a worthwhile investment.

To get started on navigating difficult work relationships:

1. Consider your most important work-related relationships.

2. Focus on the two that are most challenging.

3. Summarise the top 3 challenges in each relationship, considering them in the light of what has actually happened.

4. Consider how you could have behaved differently in those situations, how that could have changed the outcome and what you might do differently in your interactions from now on (caution – don’t set yourself too many things to try at once!).

If, once you’ve done all of the above and are still struggling and not getting the results you want to bring in more work, then get in touch. The best thing to do is to book a call with me.