Do you come home from work stressed out after a day of dealing with people at work? Are those difficult people in your organization causing you to lose your cool and often use coercion and manipulation to get their way? If the answer is yes, then it is time to learn to deal with them.

We can't deny the fact that we need to get things done 'with' people especially at work and our performance depends on how effectively we do it. Other people play an important part in our success at the workplace.

It we run over an arrogant, rude and nasty person in line at the local post office, we can often ignore them and carry on with life. But if this person, is a member of our organization especially our department, whom we have to relate to day in day out, it is  a totally different scenario. Can we ignore them? The answer is a big 'NO'. The situation is even trickier if that person is good at doing the job and only bad in dealing with people. It is necessary to work with this person with the intention to preserve and improve the working relationship so that a win-win situation is created.

Difficult people exist everywhere and often are people with behavior or attitude problems. They can be dealt with effectively if we are equipped with the right techniques and strategies to help us to deal with their behavior and attitude confidently. The key to working with difficult people is to learn to effectively coexist with them.

Knowing how to deal with difficult people at work will allow you to approach your job with more enjoyment and engage with your co-workers with greater confidence. Cooperation, collaboration, and compromise will improve – and that makes for a more productive and efficient workplace for everyone.

This program will help you to explore the role of interpersonal skills in difficult situations and show how to face adverse situations with others. It will also help you to open up dialogue, build trust, win confidence, and resolve issues effectively with others.   

Upon completion of this program, you will be able to:

• Handle the difficult people you come across in your life effectively by understanding how they think and why they do what they do.
• Act appropriately when dealing with difficult people and difficult situations.
• Avoid yourself from being a target for difficult people and coax them to treat you with respect
• Bring out the best in people by identifying and reinforcing the most positive behavior in everyone at work and at home.
• Strengthen interpersonal relationships through the use of effective interpersonal communication tools and techniques.
• Resolve issues and deadlocks with difficult people through active listening and effective engagement.
• Demonstrate more confidence in interpersonal interactions

• Middle / Junior Managers
• Executives
• Customer Service Personnel
• Sales Personnel
• Team Leaders
• Administrative Personnel

Module 1: The Origin of Difficult People

• Different personalities you encounter at the workplace
• Gender Differences in the workplace
• The most common mistake well-intentioned people make that actually worsens relationships
• The difficulty with difficult people (Who, me?)
• Do your moods control you?
• Differing roles people play in the organization
• 4 Facts of Life
  • Ego
  • Self interest
  • Feel important
  • Approval of others/self

·         Ways people deal with negative feelings

Module 2: Engaging Effectively With Difficult People

·         Why you must deal with difficult people?

·         Failing to deal with difficult people -The worse case scenario

·         Your fundamental rights in the workplace

·         Emotional Intelligence (EI) competencies for engaging with difficult people

·         Controlling the actions and attitudes of others

o   The „3-A approach‟ to attract people

o   Getting others to see things your way

o   The „Low Pressure (LP)‟ method

o   Engaging the others‟ Sub-Conscious mind

• Using the Brain Power – getting 100 percent cooperation
  • Methods to make the other person feel friendly instantly
  • Methods to convince and influence others effectively
• Take charge – The concept of 360 degree leadership

Module 3: Tools and Techniques to Handle Difficult People

• Transactional Analysis (OK Grid) – A fundamental approach when dealing with difficult people
• The gentle art of assertive confrontation
  • Gaining position leverage
  • Look at it as it is
  • Flexing the style
• 4 Difficult scenarios:
  • Dealing with difficult co-workers
  • Dealing with difficult superiors
  • Dealing with difficult clients
  • Dealing with difficult subordinates
• The 5 types of (difficult) people you meet at work – How to handle them?
• Difficult Relationships at Work

o   Dealing with Workplace Differences

o   How to Influence the Uncooperative

o   The fundamentals of conflict resolution

o   Handling Power freaks and critics

Module 4: Team Relationship At Work

·         What a team can do with a person who isn’t a team player?

·         Problematic Team Personalities – different types of troublesome behavior and ways to address them

·         Handling common differences in the communication styles of men and women

·         Effective collaboration – establishing relationship boundaries

·         Methods to get team members to stop holding grudges

·         How to get the team leaders (your boss) to quit procrastinating and make decisions?

·         Managing the gossip cycle in a team

·         How to handle prejudice in a team?

Module 5: Strengthening Oneself

·         Tactics to prevent you from being manipulated by others

·         Being less of a target for difficult people

·         Coping with excuse-makers and blamers

·         Recognizing defensive strategies (e.g. aggressive) used by people and responding effectively to it

·         Active filtering – exercising your choice to ensure a positive outcome

·         Changing the communication process – changing the engagement dynamics

·         Strengthening oneself by strengthening others -techniques to bring out the best in others

Module 6: Communication Techniques For Specific Situations

• Accentuating the positive
• Eliminating the negative
• Being constructive
• Listening attentively
• Giving and receiving effective feedback
• Personal “Handling Difficult
• People” Action Plan

A variety of methodologies will be used during the course that includes:

·         (30%) Based on Case Studies

·         (30%) Techniques 

·         (30%) Role Play

·         (10%) Concepts

·         Pre-test and Post-test

·         Variety of Learning Methods

·         Lectures

·         Case Studies and Self Questionaires

·         Group Work

·         Discussion

·         Presentation

This rate includes participant’s manual, Hand-Outs, buffet lunch, coffee/tea on arrival, morning & afternoon of each day.

Daily Course Timings:

    08:00 - 08:20       Morning Coffee / Tea

    08:20 - 10:00       First Session

    10:00 - 10:20       Coffee / Tea / Snacks

    10:20 - 12:20       Second Session

    12:20 - 13:30       Lunch Break & Prayer Break

    13:30 - 15:00       Last Session