Every workplace has at least one coworker that everyone doesn’t really get along with, to put it nicely, and nothing gets tempers flared quite like a watercooler rant about a mutual enemy.

Who doesn’t love a Monday morning skinner session about Janice from accounts, right?

Now we’re all about maintaining high professional standards and ethics (or not), so what’s actually the best course of action when it comes to the office dickhead?

According to Lyndy van den Barselaar, Managing Director at ManpowerGroup South Africa, a cool head goes a long way.

She’d know, too, because she heads up the local division of the world’s leading workforce experts, a Fortune 500 company that specialises in connecting people with jobs across a wide range of skills and industries every day.

Lyndy recommends a measured approach, starting with realising you can’t change your coworker:

Accept your differences and focus instead on the job or tasks you are contracted to perform on behalf of your employer. Where your duties overlap with those of the coworker you have an issue with, resolve to keep it professional.

Before each workday, anticipate where you might run into difficulty and look for ways to minimise the friction. “If that requires working on your active listening skills or being more open to your coworker’s ideas, then put those into practice,” suggests van den Barselaar.

Next up – look for the positive:

Most people have a mix of good and bad qualities. It’s possible that you see something in your coworker that you don’t like about yourself, or maybe you just haven’t spent enough time with them to appreciate their good qualities. “If you assume positive intent, rather than negative, it will be easier to build a professional working relationship, and complete the tasks at hand,” she says.

At the very least, a couple of deep breaths and a few fist clenches is a good start.

Look at you go, you’ve made it all the way to step three – make an effort to build trust:

Invite him or her to lunch and let them know, tactfully, what’s bothering you. They may not even be aware of it. “Be prepared, however, to receive the same feedback. Maybe you’ve said or done something to put your coworker on their heels. If so, be prepared to make amends and start off fresh,” says van den Barselaar.

If I invite them for lunch, they’re paying.

I’m going to skip communicate clearly, and move on to don’t take it personally:

Often times difficult coworkers behave badly because of personal problems occurring outside of work. If you have taken steps to build trust and professional rapport, performed your professional duties well and on time, and are still not seeing a change, it may be time to consider that the root cause of their behaviour has nothing to do with you.

That’s right, you’re in the clear and the other person is most certainly the problem.

You knew it all along, so two gold stars for you.

Then you’re left with discussing the situation with your manager:

They may have noticed the problem and can help you work through it without it becoming disruptive to the office environment. “Be proactive, and come to the conversation with ideas and recommendations on what you can do to improve the relationship,” says van den Barselaar.

Look at you go, rising above it all and taking the moral high ground. Knew you had it in you.

The final, and most drastic step of all, is to look for another job. Whether it’s the dickhead or you doing the looking, the starting point remains the same.

ManpowerGroup South Africa are industry leaders for a reason, and tucking into their extensive network is pretty darn easy.

If you’re an employee wanting to find your dream gig, or you’re an employer who wants to staff their business with the best of the best, get in touch with them and set the wheels in motion.

No promises that your next job won’t have an awful coworker or two prowling around, though.

By the way, if it keeps happening then maybe the problem is … um, I don’t know how to say this so I’ll stop here.

[source:skillsportal]