By Kaley Klemp and Jim Warner
If you work with other people (and who doesn’t?) think about your last week and notice how much time you wasted on drama — those energy-draining behaviors or exchanges that kept you from what you really wanted to be doing. Think about all the infighting, water-cooler talk, meaningless meetings, turf wars, pouting, rants, and other behaviors that blocked positive and productive interactions in your practice.
Now think about how many creative projects you could have completed, or how much time you could have spent having fun with friends and family, if you had that time and energy back.
By following these seven steps, you can shift yourself (and your team) away from drama to more enjoyable and productive tasks.
Step 1: Get out of your own drama.
One of the most difficult challenges for aspiring leaders is to “own their stuff” — acknowledge their own responsibility for relationship shortcomings. So, before you can guide others, you must take inventory of your strengths during interaction (i.e., where you uplift relationships) and the ways you sabotage relationships. The strength inventory is usually easy, but the sabotage inventory more difficult. It requires the vulnerability and courage to seek others’ candid observations and advice about your behavior. To find out your own drama tendencies you can use self-reflection, ask your colleagues, or take a drama assessment. You can only help others when you are curious yourself. Take a deep breath, get recentered, and get out of your own way.
Step 2: Diagnose the type of drama in the other person.
Once you are committed to authenticity and curiosity, you can determine what kind of drama the other person is displaying. There are four primary drama roles that emerge most frequently in office settings:
- The complainer
- The controller
- The cynic
- The caretaker
You’ll need to use different strategies for different personalities — there is no one-size-fits-all antidote for drama. Take note of the kind of person you’re dealing with. Will he or she respond more to direct confrontation and setting boundaries (better for controllers and cynics), or to appreciation and encouragement (better for caretakers and complainers)? Know who you’re dealing with and tailor your approach to maximize your chance for shifting someone’s behavior.
Step 3: Assess the risk of confronting the other person.
Before meeting with drama-prone colleagues, you must identify and evaluate the potential downsides of a confrontation. Without objectively assessing these risks, you might be tempted to either accept a dysfunctional relationship you could have salvaged, or make a misstep you could have avoided. So, before launching into a direct conversation with your boss or a team member, consider the possible side effects (e.g., nothing happens, it gets worse, the person abruptly leaves) and whether you’re willing to face them.
Step 4: Develop rapport with the drama-prone person.
It’s important to establish rapport with the other person so he or she is well prepared to receive your message. Try opening with a blend of connection, appreciation, ground rules, and expectations. Your goal is to get the person’s full attention and set him or her up to be receptive to your ideas. People prefer to collaborate with those they know and like, so this step is powerful in setting the tone for the rest of the conversation.
Step 5: Have a direct conversation.
While an entire article could be written about direct conversations, when confronting someone about their drama, stay dispassionate and state the facts clearly and concisely. Also, present what you derived from the facts (i.e., your perceptions) and any emotions you experienced — usually some combination of fear, anger, guilt, or embarrassment.
The next part is a little tougher. Share with the person how you contributed to the situation (why it’s your fault, too). Then, end with a specific request. Usually these conversations end with an agreement about what will happen next to make sure the drama ends.
While this may sound simple, each component outlined here is worth practicing and mastering so that the entire conversation flows smoothly. For instance, it’s very easy to mix facts and derived meaning. People often say, “The fact is that you are being difficult.” Actually, the level of cooperation or difficulty of an individual is derived meaning or perception. One person may consider someone challenging an idea as difficult behavior, and another might see it as a commitment to improvement.
Step 6: Get their commitment.
The last step of the conversation in Step 5 is to state your specific requests or expectations of the person. A commitment to realize these expectations without excuses, sarcasm, self-pity, or martyrdom is often difficult to obtain from drama-prone people. They’ll dance around the expectation or rephrase it in vague terms. These deflection or evasion tactics are a self-protection mechanism that helps the dramatic person avoid change and accountability. Don’t get taken in. Reiterate both your expectations and your need for the drama-prone person’s commitment to meet those expectations. If he or she continues to resist or deflect, be prepared to calmly offer an ultimatum, including specific rewards for meeting objectives and consequences for missing objectives.
Step 7: Validate and anchor the person’s commitment and new behavior.
Praise the person for his or her positive behavior during your meeting, and honor the commitments he or she made. Follow up with a short note or email confirming the person’s commitments. Ideally, ask the person to create a summary of your meeting that includes the specific agreements. People live up to what they write down.
Once you’ve done these seven steps, you’ve done the hard work. Now you can redirect your energy toward the collaborative, meaningful projects that you enjoy doing, and work in an office free from drama.
Author bio
Kaley Klemp and Jim Warner are the authors of "The Drama-Free Office: A Guide to Healthy Collaboration with Your Team, Coworkers, and Boss." You can get a free sample of the book on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KaleyKlemp. Follow them on Twitter @KaleyKlemp, and read more about them at www.DramaFreeOffice.com.
