Working with difficult people

A true story…

A few years ago I was going on a weekend course to learn more about ‘team work’. When I got the list of attendees a few days prior to attending, my heart sank. There was one person on the list whom I really found difficult. I had to admit that I didn’’t find it easy to work with them, so was secretly hoping I wouldn’t too often be paired with them I travelled after work on the Friday evening, as did all of the others on the course. We gathered for a welcome session before dinner. There were a few announcements including some changes of plan. One of the announcements was that ‘the difficult person’ was not able to attend.

The day before they had been painting their bedroom window frames outside and had fallen off the ladder.

At that point I learned that ‘difficult people’ are not always going to fall of ladders and be prevented from taking part. So, we had better try to get used to working with them and including them.

A few weeks later there was a second training event. But I was under the weather and struggled to decide whether to go or not.. In the end I did go but was not at my best. AFTERWARDS I realised that I had been ‘that difficult person’. I learned then that every one of us can be ‘THAT DIFFICULT PERSON’.

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