What are some effective ways to deal with difficult people in Operational Planning?

From my experience, The more you develop your soft-skills, the easier it gets when it comes to handling difficult people. Most of the time, you need to invest time to understand their backstory in order to learn how to deal with them. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer is the way to go.

1. Active Listening: Listen to their concerns, defuse tension, and show value in their input. 2. Empathize: Understand their perspective, acknowledge feelings, and build rapport. 3. Stay Calm: Maintain composure to de-escalate confrontations. 4. Clear Communication: Be concise, non-confrontational, and avoid assumptions. 5. Set Boundaries: Define acceptable behavior and consequences. 6. Problem-Solve Together: Empower them to find solutions. 7. Seek Mediation: Use a neutral third party if needed. 8. Document Issues: Keep records for future reference. 9. Involve Leadership: If necessary, seek guidance from higher management. 10. Self-Care: Practice self-care and seek support when dealing with difficult individuals.

Understanding someone's background and getting to know a challenging person can be highly beneficial in identifying the root cause of the problem. Once you succeed in breaking down their barriers, you will observe a noticeable change in their behavior, leading to more productive interactions. Consequently, this will positively impact operations and facilitate the integration of a difficult employee into the team.

When faced with a difficult person, taking a moment to identify the root cause of their behavior is pivotal. Understanding whether it stems from a different perspective, personal issues, lack of information, or hidden agenda allows for a more informed and measured response. This approach minimizes the risk of making assumptions or taking things personally. By discerning the person's motivations and needs, one can tailor their response appropriately to foster a more constructive interaction and address the underlying issues.

Muchas veces la relación personal ya no tiene remedio, por lo que se requiere de un mediador que permita alinear todo el trabajo profesionalmente

I recently finished the “working with difficult people” LinkedIn training. It has some great insights that can help. 1 thing in particular stood out to me…and that was asking yourself…self reflecting as to how you may have contributed to a situation. A continuous learning journey🛫

Agree - as a start point, common ground and creating positivity is ideal but, keeping a focus on the purpose will also allow people to see where they can fit and how they can support others. Friction and impact on delivery has to be addressed or it risks becoming toxic to team, task and the individual.

This is huge and it is diplomacy in action. If you do not find a positive to unite and work together you will continue in the negative conflict cycle…and probably no resolution.

Another nugget…and another great key. Focus on the solution and keep talk focused on the solution. You need boundaries to keep from attacking a persons character…for 1…as that strays from the conversation and adds no value. It will also harbor negative feelings for a long time period. It cant be a free-for-all. There needs to be some structure and keep it professional.

This is where you grow 🌻 as a person, as a leader…professionally. If you do not address conflicts the team will always suffer and each person deals with conflicts differently. I believe this is an art form and it takes practice. LinkedIn has several courses about working with difficult people and conflict management. Always a great place to start.

God made us all unique. We are not going to see everything the same way. You don’t have to have the same perspective as someone to hear the position from which they view a point. Know that if it division mustering, that is the devil at work.