How to deal with difficult people who are angry, and illogical.
With the election going on this business coach week it was all that anyone was talking about, who needs to win this state, who needs to win that state, and what is going to happen if Biden or Trump wins. There is a lot of division going on right now between the two political parties. The big takeaway from this week was when I was standing in line to vote with Clay at 6 in the morning. He showed and told me how to deal with difficult people who are angry, and illogical. We were standing in line and Clay was making small talk with some of the people behind us, he said something that sent some old guy off his rockers. He started to get all upset, defensive, and really hostile over the truth. The natural person would have tried to make a scene with that old guy, would have gotten louder, would have yelled and said bad things to the guy. However, Clay did none of the things, instead, he remained calm, passive, and had an even voice. This was new to me, I have never really seen Clay turn passive like this. He later explained to me that this was a tactic used to deal with hostile people, to not make a scene and burn bridges.
People are like rocks and as a business coach or manager, or anyone who deals with people on a daily basis, you have to be like the water flowing around the rock, or you have to be slamming up against it. You have to choose how to handle certain situations. Being able to tell when it is good to be passive, or when it is good to be the dominant one is important. If Clay would have been the dominant one in the voting line, then everyone around him would have just dismissed anything he said after that, even though it was the truth. But by being passive and just letting the guy vent was the way to go. Now, this is just dealing with people on a day-to-day basis, and not those you manage. With those that you manage it is a different story, being passive most of the time is how you lose control and how the team falls apart.
When you are managing people you have to choose battles.
When there is a particularly interesting person you are managing who is wanting to constantly do things like walk around barefoot at the office, change their computer screen background to an anime character, or anything of that nature, choosing which one you will invest in fixing is key to keep you sane. Being able to know which one requires your energy and which one will just drive you insane. Keeping after the example of business coach Clay and Jon when it comes to people management is how I have been able to grow into a better SEO manager and how I have been able to learn people skills. Being able to have these skills and know when to be the water going around the rock or smash up against it is key to being a better manager.
