How to work with Jerks?? Lessons from a friend.

How to work with Jerks?? Lessons from a friend…

Like most of you I work in a 9 to 5 job and face the same problems as most of you do. Life has had it usual ups and downs and I understand that it can get really messy, if things do not go the right way at work. Work troubles effect our entire life including personal and social fronts.

At work we encounter different kinds of individuals. Some are fun to work with, others not so much. Some lash out publicly against any offence, others do it silently. Some are smart, some stupid, some intelligent and hardworking, some lazy and some jerks. Yes every office has its fair share in this last category.

I recently read an excellent  article by Jennifer Dulski on LinkedIn titled “Don’t Work With Jerks: 5 Lessons I Learned From My Dad”.  But many a times people that we work with and jobs that we are in, there is not much that we can change about it. We can try changing the job or the team but, in most instances, there is little that can be done.

A friend of mine, simplistic and hardworking person has been plagued with a poor team support and has had to tolerate working with people who can be real jerks at times.  She is a very quiet kind of person and in more cases than should be, others take the limelight. It is easy to say that work for has not been easy.  This is mostly because of others in office than herself, her work and efforts. 

She recently found herself in a project working with jerks. As is usual, she put in a lot of effort for the job, while others took the credit for it. It was disheartening to see that her efforts were not recognized by the organization. But, the way she dealt with this situation taught me a valuable lesson.  Instead of whining about it ( she did a little, that is natural, she is not actually a saint… :) or may be she is…. :)), the point being that she did not waste time in cribbing about the situation. Instead, she resolved to keep working hard and do a good job.  She kept her cool and patience and did not let jerks get in her way.

The result being, she was so good at the job, that no one could take credit for it, without mentioning her. Her contributions were outstanding and could not be usurped and finally she got her due. I would say by passive aggression…. :)

So the lesson my friend taught me was – when dealing with jerks, do not lose your cool, stay focused, be patient and work hard.

In most cases, radical changes like changing the job or even your team might not be an option. So, you might want to try this option/solution. Let me know how it goes for you. And most of you will agree that focus, hard work and most of all not giving up is a cocktail for success. For more on that read this superb article by Bernard Marr titled, "The One Thing Successful People Never Do".

 

If you tried this way and it worked for you, please leave a comment or write to me at deeptiamitsrivastava@gmail.com.

If you face similar problems and have found a way out please share it with me by posting a comment or write to me at deeptiamitsrivastava@gmail.com.