At work how do you respond when someone offends you? Fact is no matter how ‘mad’ you are, you have to deal with it professionally. Here are some tips to help you keep things in perspective and stop offence from escalating unnecessarily.
NO SNOWBALLING PLEASE: If someone offends you and you find yourself telling a lot of people it suggests that it bothers you in which case you probably need to resolve it. Continuing to talk about it instead of dealing with it makes you come across as cranky. So deal with the issues quickly and with integrity.
NO RESOLUTION VIA EMAIL: We communicate a lot by email these days and the temptation to settle conflict or deal with offence through email is tempting. Some may even deliberately use email because it takes away the discomfort of having a difficult conversation face to face. But this never works as email leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation, plus you miss out on non-verbal clues like body language which are very important in communication.
DON’T REACY WHILST STILL EMOTIONAL: This can be tough but one good incentive to do so is that when you’re emotional, you could be irrational and act in a way that you feel embarrassed at later. Choose to act soberly. It’s a good promise to make to yourself. Chances are you will be working with whoever offended you don’t get overtaken by your offense or nurse your hurt feelings for too long.
KNOW WHAT APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR IS: No one can tell you how you should or not feel about a situation but unfortunately how you express whatever you are feeling should be measured and in line with what is deemed reasonable behaviour. Even if you are very angry of feel grossly offended, take a deep breath, focus on any facts of the situation to keep things balanced.
Now take action: What one thing can you do to keep your cool?
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