Everyone knows someone difficult, but few people know how best to deal with irritating characters. Here’s some good news: When you change how you view annoying people, most of them will miraculously lose their effect – at least on you. According to workplace training consultant Monica Wofford, individuals who appear difficult simply don’t handle things the same way as the person judging them. Her advice is smart, insightful and easy to read. While she includes too much promotion of her consulting services and professional products, Wofford’s treatise offers a worthwhile approach to a tough topic. getAbstract recommends her engaging business fable to readers who need relief from difficult people.
Is Everyone Difficult?
“Difficult people” seem to be everywhere. They can be so hard to handle that you might be too irritated to consider how they got that way. You just wish they'd disappear.
They can, but not by magic. Difficult people vanish when you change your attitude toward them. Stop seeing them as irritating and, presto, they won’t be. Most seemingly difficult people are merely different. The way they think is not the way you think. How they handle things seems strange. You may mistakenly see these distinctive people as taxing, overly sensitive or even deliberately obstructive. The business fable that follows demonstrates how you can have more harmonious relationships with people you perceive as difficult if something changes – not in them, but in you.
Cybil: The Queen of Difficult
Cybil is a wife, a mother and an executive. She is an accomplished type A personality with terrific drive and focus. She is so task oriented and busy that she posts a reminder to sleep on her daily to-do list. Cybil believes that far too many of the people she deals with are difficult, including her husband, her son, her sister, her mother, her boss, many...
Monica Wofford, a certified CORE coach, is founder and CEO of Contagious Companies Inc., a training and consulting firm.
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