High-Achieving Women
The Coworker from Hell--just about every company has one ... more if you're particularly unfortunate. They come in all shapes and sizes. The Diva. The Know-It-All. The Complainer. The Suck Up. The Bully. The Back Stabber. Whatever nightmarish shape your Coworker from Hell (CFH) may take (and sadly, some have more configurations than a Metamorphagus in the magical world of Harry Potter), they can wreak havoc not only on a workplace, but on your emotional and physical well-being by adding unnecessary stress to your life.
Unfortunately, I don't have a magic wand to give you that can transform these dreaded CFHs into pleasant, harmless, or wonderfully collaborative creatures. However, I can offer a few tricks you can keep up your sleeve that should help reduce your conflicts with these people and thereby reduce your stress in the workplace. Trick #1 - Anticipate and be prepared. If CFHs are anything, they're fairly predictable. Divas will be divas. Complainers will complain. Suck ups will ... well, you get the picture. Although you may not always be able to predict the exact details of each and every drama they'll create, you can probably predict the "theme." Use this to your advantage by anticipating the next conflict and being prepared with a response. As Lifescript staff writer Jennifer Gruenemay writes about dealing with CFHs, "When you're unprepared, you're likely to react instinctively to your anger and annoyance with childish behavior that accomplishes nothing. This will only succeed in making a bad situation worse." Instead, Gruenemay suggests that you practice how you will respond before an inevitable encounter. You can do this by playing out the anticipated conflict in your mind, or by role-playing with a trusted friend. In fact, you should try out a few responses to see which one is most likely to effectively resolve the issue in the most efficient and rational manner possible.