HOW TO WORK WITH TOXIC PEOPLE
Chances are high you’ve encountered people in your working environment who demonstrate toxic qualities.
They are judgmental, they constantly pass judgment on you and others. They place huge strains on your time and energy. They refuse to take responsibility or apologize for their actions. They may find it very hard to exact control over their own lives and relationships. So, they try to exert power over other people in harmful ways.
They can have you questioning your over-reactiveness, your oversensitivity, your tendency to misinterpret. If you’re the one who’s continually hurt or the one who is constantly adjusting your own behavior to avoid being hurt, then, probably, you are not one of those toxic people.
A toxic person is anyone whose behavior adds negativity and upset to your life. Here below you can find some warning signs to detect if you perceive you’re dealing with a toxic person: You feel like you’re being manipulated into something you don’t want to do. You feel like you deserve an apology that never comes. You never feel fully comfortable around this person. Your vital energy drops down once you have that person around you.
How to work with these people then?
As soon as you notice toxic behaviors, confront the person. Call them out on any lies or inconsistencies. Tell them you don’t appreciate how they behave. This shows them that you’re paying attention and you’re giving them a chance to explain themselves or apologize.
If you need to deal with toxic colleagues in your working environment set stricter boundaries. Make it clear you won’t tolerate their behavior anymore and try to limit the time you spend with them, let them go and move on.
The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. According to a research conducted by TalentSmart on more than a one million people and they found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control. One of their greatest assets is the ability to identify toxic people and keep them at bay.
It’s often said that “you’re the product of the five people you spend the most time with”. If you allow even one of those five people to be toxic, you’ll soon find out how capable he or she is of holding you back.
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You can’t hope to distance yourself from toxic people until you first know who they are. The trick is to separate those who are annoying or simply difficult from those who are truly toxic.
Maintaining an emotional distance requires awareness. You can’t stop someone from pushing your buttons if you don’t recognize when it’s happening. Sometimes you’ll find yourself in situations where you’ll need to regroup and choose the best way forward. This is fine, and you shouldn’t be afraid to buy yourself some time to do so.
Develop your emotional intelligence then and try to identify the toxic people in your life. You really don’t need them, but if you have to deal with some of them at work… well, protect yourself fine tuning your own strategy not to be affected by their negativity.?
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Educator, Entrepreneur
3 年3Dethos.com is the ideal tool to ID #toxicpeople in the workplace. They will understand that they've been identified and may change as a result. But if they don't, the organization will have aggregated data to support the toxic's removal.
Thank you Elena for this interesting approach on toxic people. Elena Taskova has good thoughts on corporate (toxic) culture. We at Pilot Impuls work towards a learning error culture, to overcome some of these toxic behaviors. It is often not only leaders, but a person in an usual working team - and this "toxic person" influences the whole work of the team. And it often goes along with naming - blaming - shaming attitude. Just culture within a company makes it more difficult to such persons "to play their game" with the others - and so reduces at least some toxicity ?? #justculture
Interesting article Enza. Thank you for sharing ??
Senior Marketing Professional / Consultant / Trainer
3 年Recommend that article! I have also worked (like almost anybody else) with "toxic" people - it is unavoidable, I would say. I would suggest the following ways to deal with them: don't argue with them (this is their playground :-)), set boundaries which they know and cannot cross (this is your responsibility), stay firm but calm (very difficult but possible) and most of it - try to ignore them. If your manager(s) supports those toxic people - I'm afraid it is time to change your position or job and go working somewhere else ...
Grup Hazine Ve Finans Uzman Yard?mc?s? / Group Treasury And Finance Assistant Specialist
3 年Thanks for sharing Enza Artino