Most professionals must have come across colleagues who get easily jealous for some reason or none. Dealing with such colleagues every day at the workplace is not only an unpleasant business but their negative attitude can hamper the victim’s productivity, lower their confidence and cause a lot of mental agonies.
Jealous colleagues often try to assume unauthorised power over a victim, wait for opportunities to make the person look bad in front of others, especially the boss, and most importantly, they try to ostracize the target by not including him or her in office activities to make him or her feel secluded and unwanted.
Such toxic behaviour can be very unbearable but you cannot accuse them of anything because they operate well within the office norms, right? Such jealous colleagues need to be deal with tactfully. So here are some strategic ways to handle jealous and toxic colleagues without losing your cool.
1. Do your job and do it well!
What could make a person, who wants you to fail, feel worse? When they see you doing your job well and winning accolades and everyone’s heart, especially if your boss starts appreciating your efforts. Yes, there is the risk of ruffling their feathers more but if you are good at what you do, meet your targets and become a dependable asset, they would back off eventually.
2. Ignorance is the best policy
We know how tempted you must be to confront a jealous colleague and tell him how their behaviour is affecting your work. Sometimes, such a step can backfire because toxic or jealous colleagues love drama and when they get a clear affirmation that their behaviour is irritating you, it would only make them happier and more intent on carrying on what they are doing.
3. Documentation is a must
Document everything—working on weekends, meeting a deadline on time, doing extra work etc. Because a jealous colleague’s first attempt would be to make you look bad in front of others, especially your boss. Even if you did everything perfectly, they can always manipulate the truth and can drop something as simple as, ‘Oh! she always cringes away from doing work on a Sunday’, very casually in front of a boss. Such remarks can make you look unprofessional for no reason. So, just to keep yourself safe, documenting your work is very important.
4. Make friends with other colleagues and find an ally
One of the main motives of jealous and toxic colleagues is to alienate you so that you do not get help or support from others during need. It is therefore important to have friends in the office. Given the fact that your toxic colleagues will be from the same team, you should try making friends in other teams. Also, while choosing an ally you should preferably have someone from higher authority, if possible.
5. Be easy on yourself and a little forgiving
We can understand how stressful it is to work with colleagues who try to demotivate you and hamper your productivity constantly. Some might break down under such pressure and others might work extra hard to prove them wrong. In both cases, when it becomes extreme, you tend to end up harming yourself mentally. Being too hard on yourself when the people around you are already being harsh, would not help. This is the time to be strong and a little forgiving, especially, you need to give yourself some credit for surviving even for a day in such a toxic environment.
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