Tips to Deal with Toxic Coworkers by Jay Holstine

You spend a significant chunk of your day at work. Imagine how hard it would be for you to do that if you had toxic people all around you at work. Unfortunately, toxic behavior in the workplace is very common. If you wish to work hard and succeed, you have to know how to deal with these kinds of people. This is important to help keep your sanity intact. In this guide, Jay Holstine takes you through a few ways to help you deal with toxic people at work.

How to Deal with Toxic People at Work by Jay Holstine

Here are a few ways you can deal with toxic people at work.

1.     Learn More About Them

The first step is to learn more about these toxic colleagues and how they work. Try to understand more about their thought patterns and beware of their moods. You need to develop a plan to help you deal with them.

2.     Develop Coping Mechanisms

You need to come up with your own ways of dealing with these toxic people. Either you can choose to completely ignore them, or you can choose to respond to them in a certain way. It depends entirely on what works best for you and how you think you can manage that. If you think your colleague is making your work life too miserable, then try to focus on the positives of your workplace to keep you from getting entirely demotivated to work, says Jay Holstine.

3.     Choose Your Battles Wisely

Toxic people will try to pull you into meaningless fights very often. You have to be very smart about it. Try not to get pulled into these because that compromises your time and effort, disallowing you from concentrating on your work. It brings out the negative energy within you, which is not good at all. Pick your battles wisely, and know which issues you can easily ignore. Remember that you are recognized at the workplace for the work you do. So be very smart about how you choose to work.

4.     Avoid Engaging With Them Unnecessarily

Try not to engage with toxic people unless there is a dire need to do so. You can avoid all problems altogether if you stop interacting with such people. But given that you have work to do together, you must figure out what interactions are ultimately necessary, says Jay Holstine.

5.     Hold Onto Your Integrity

You have to ensure that you don't let go of your integrity no matter what happens. Remember that even in the most difficult times, you must ensure you hold your values high. Otherwise, you will be on the losing end of the situation. Dealing with toxic workers is not easy, but very much possible if you are wise about it.

Final Words by Jay Holstine

With these actionable tips by Jay Holstine on dealing with toxic people, you can make your work life much easier. Remember that you will come across many such people at work – you just need to know how to deal with them best.