They’re everywhere: difficult people.

Some days it seems like you can’t get away from them. Which is probably because you can’t. You work with them. So even though you don’t get along with them, you’re stuck.

But you know what I’ve noticed about many difficult people? They have friends. And sometimes even spouses. So clearly, some folks are able to get along with them.

The question is: do you want to get along with them?

Maybe not in a let’s-go-out-to-lunch-and-talk-about-our-weekends way, but perhaps in a let’s-meet-this-deadline-without-choking-each-other kind of way.

If you’re willing to put in just a little effort, you might be surprised by the results.

So How Does People Profiler Help?

Using The People Profiler to discover a difficult person’s personal communication preferences can serve you well. But in addition to the personalized communication do’s and don’ts that The People Profiler provides about your subject (in this case, a difficult co-worker), there’s also a detailed list of characteristics in these categories:

  • Their overall goals
  • How they judge others
  • How they influence others
  • The value they bring to the organization
  • How they act when under stress
  • Their fears

Gaining this kind of understanding about a person – even a particularly difficult person – gives you an unfair advantage when interacting with them.  But it can also bring an unexpected result: tolerance.

What You Learn About Yourself As a Result

Sometimes we’re so focused on the fact that this person is difficult, that we lose sight of their value and contributions because we focus solely on the fact that “they are so difficult!”

Knowing that certain behaviors of theirs are a result of being under stress gives us some insight when those behaviors pop up, so we don’t take them personally. And suddenly we aren’t so annoyed.

Discovering that this person you cannot stand has fears – and that they drive his behavior  – can generate empathy that you didn’t even know you had.

So while you may have begun using The People Profiler in an effort to get what you want out of folks, you might be surprised to discover what it brings out in you.

And those “difficult people”? Amazingly enough, after learning more about what makes them tick, you won’t find them quite so difficult any more.