COPING WITH INSECURE PEOPLE AT WORK
There are all kinds of characters at work – disgusting and pleasant. Like I said in the post, Coping with Characters at Work, fighting people with irritating characters is not the way forward since you will build acrimony and tension in your workplace. Learning to cope with them enables you go to work and ensures that no bitterness is built around your work. On this week’s edition of Career Exploits, you will learn how to cope with insecure people at work.
The way of Insecure People
Nearly in every workplace, you have insecure people – people who are not confident in themselves or their abilities to do things well. They may have recorded some success; but they are not certain of being there for a long time.
An insecure person is afraid of losing his current position or never rising above it. His fear manifests in suspicion of people he work with. He lives in the illusion that others want to pull him down. Insecure people fear imaginary enemies! As a result they seize every opportunity they have to tarnish the image of others or suppress them.
He is scared of being fired or replaced. He envies his colleague that gets things done. He is jealous of his colleague that gets applauded. Whenever he can, he does everything to make your work ineffective. He seizes every opportunity available to him to tear you into pieces to make himself important and make you less valuable.
Don’t Fight the Insecure!
There are all kinds of characters at work – good and disgusting. When you encounter the disgusting ones, the temptation is to fight them back – even if it’s attitudinal fight. But fighting, any kind at all, is hardly the best option. Fighting them makes them your enemies and creates unnecessary tension between the people you work with.
Handling Insecure People
Instead of fighting them, handle them with respect, tolerance and support. If you can handle your insecure colleague, superior and subordinates with these, you are almost sure of working with them without qualms. I had to learn this the hard way!
An insecure boss interprets your competence and excellent grasp of the job as pride. As much as you can, don’t show off what you know. Keep them in your head until a demand is placed on it.
From my experience, insecure boss considers your unsolicited suggestion as attempt to show off. It is worst if the person is actually incompetent; but got to his position through dubious means. Do your best to avoid anything that will make them think you want to take their position; it makes them realise that you are not a foe!
When you come up with suggestions you think won’t work, don’t treat them as though they are dumb. Nicely bring forward your suggestion with utmost respect possible. Don’t present it as something that must be done, submit it as a simple suggestion that may work. If it’s your boss, he won’t get threatened. If it’s your colleague, he won’t feel challenged and if it’s your subordinate, she won’t dumb.
Support them to get result. When they are working on a project, don’t stand alof. Offer to assist them with suggestions, information, materials and even your skill. It will remove the fear in them that you want to over throw them. Support them get result and allow them take all the credit.
To their backbiting you, move on with your life. It’s their mouth and they are free to use it as they choose to. Since it is lies that they spread, it can hardly affect you. You need to understand something here. This life is run by God, not your CEO. He sees everything you and your colleague do.
He will bring you the rewards that’s due to you in due season. Focus on your job and even when someone comes to report to you what was said about you, don’t pour too much emotions into it. Hear it and dismiss it as the effort of a mediocre trying to cover up his mediocrity!
