As executive search consultants, we see many articles today talk about how marketing leaders can improve themselves and further their careers quickly. However, they fail to mention one obstacle almost everyone faces daily. Bad coworkers.
According to a survey conducted by Olivet Nazarene University, negative workplace relationships are the number one cause of employee stress. Roughly, 36% of those surveyed admitted to changing jobs because they could not put up with their colleagues any longer. 96% have also claimed some coworkers annoy them daily.
While some may say the most common solution is to just ignore them, the reality is the work environment plays a huge role in the productivity and efficiency of any marketing professional. This also pertains to remote executive jobs if not more. Rather than bottling it up, executive search consultants have provided key tips on how to deal with bad coworkers in a way that will benefit both you and your organization.
Marketing Executive Search Consultants Tips To Cope With 2 Common Types Of Difficult or Bad Co-workers:
The Slacker
In a typical working environment or team, everyone plays their part and builds each other up as professionals. There might be the occasional one or two slackers you might run across during your career. These slackers do the bare minimum and never lend a hand.
While you could say it doesn’t directly affect you and your career, the reality is it affects your team’s effectiveness as a whole. All of which could prohibit you from doing your job and producing quality work.
The best solution is to simply have a conversation with them. Professionally state how their work or lack thereof is affecting the team. Accountability is fundamentally the glue that holds everyone together. Bringing this to their attention could help them set new goals and be a better version of themselves.
On the other hand, you don’t want to be too quick to judge. They could be having an off week or dealing the best they can with other issues. With years of experience as executive search consultants, we recommend you look at a person’s overall performance and check-in if something seems out of the ordinary.
The Complainer
We all have had times where we feel like we are pulling a lot of weight. It could be the constant flow of meetings or being so overwhelmed with work you barely have enough time to eat. The reality is, we’re all human. Sometimes a certain amount of complaining can feel necessary. Venting about your problems or obstacles could help you release some pressure off your shoulders.
Hearing constant negativity within the workplace is exhausting. You want a great team that focuses on positivity and optimizing each person’s potential. This unfortunately only works if everyone can see the same end goal and have the same motivation to achieve it.
If you do have a complainer on your team it is best to redirect their perspective early on. To do this, you need to acknowledge why they have a negative attitude. You can then help encourage them to find the best solution for their problem. Ask questions like “ How do you think we can solve this problem?” You can also try to give them helpful steps they can take to overcome their negativity.
At the end of the day, executive search consultants can confidently say almost every workplace has some type of challenging co-worker. The only way to push your career forward is if you help your team push ahead with you. That being said, ignoring your difficult team members is not an option. By making small adjustments and trying to understand where that person is coming from, you will be able to connect with different types of colleagues and create a more unified team.
Author: Melissa Van Rossum