Dealing With Difficult People

Difficult People: Type 1- The Dominant

These are natural leaders and usually seem the toughest to handle at first because they are very dominant. Feared and respected more than the boss. Unquestioned by colleagues and avoided by seniors, the dominant, seeks to own every person and thing where they work, and often:

• have a set way of doing things,
• become frustrated when they think people are challenging them,
• abusive in arguments, critical of others,
• rough to people in public.
• set goals and will do anything to achieve them
• quite big physically
• Must maintain their ego

Tackling difficult person type 1
This type of difficult person relies on dominance to get what they want.
They seek to display their ego at every opportunity. Completely ignore it. Remain neutral, and asking open ended questions (calmly) about the situation, the problem will be solved quickly. You can also try and create a diversion by asking a related question, to calm them down. Agree where you can.
Remember: Although (dominant) difficult people put their image before anything else, don't let them talk down to you- you are all there to do a job and should work like cogs in a machine. You are all needed.

Using difficult people is a lot easier than you think. Often when people think of “using” people, they think of a scheming, tactical approach when in fact – there is a simple way to do it. As mentioned in this post (see top- The MOST difficult people), difficult people are good at bossing people around. By giving them a set of instructions, they can confidently and effectively show someone else how to do a job, whilst feeling a sense of importance because they are being used- this will put them on the companies’ side. Also, it makes you look like less of a taskmaster.

In order to make a set of instructions clear, you must be explicit and abrupt. Don’t be afraid to split hairs when you have to, if it gets the job done quicker. Remember- most of the time, precise instructions eliminate decisions and therefore tend toward perfection. Just make sure you have considered all the ways of doing a job first!

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