Courses, Big Think

Dealing with challenging coworkers with Amy Gallo

11 lectures, 1 hr 9 min in all

There’s a lot you can choose in life. You can choose your outfit and which snack to pull from the cupboard. You can choose your friends. But you generally can’t pick your coworkers. If you’re lucky, they’re all wonderful people with whom you get along swimmingly. But it’s likely that at some point in your career, you’ll struggle to get along with someone at work. And while there’s no way to prevent having crappy cubicle mates, there are strategies you can use to deal with them more effectively and make everyone’s lives easier. Positive work relationships, as Harvard Business Review editor Amy Gallo emphasizes, are not only nice to have but also crucial for performance, creativity, and well-being. By prioritizing empathy and upfront communication, Gallo’s principles for managing tough conversations and engaging with difficult colleagues can help everyone create more generative, amiable professional communities. Learning objectives: Address unhealthy patterns of behavior and foster healthy work relationships. Navigate and learn from difficult conversations. Increase self-control and self-awareness during conflicts. Disagree productively. Communicate effectively in remote work environments.