This document discusses personality and different types of difficult people. It defines personality as a stable set of characteristics that influence behavior. Some determinants of personality include heredity, environment, culture, and family background. The document then describes different types of difficult people such as aggressive individuals, dominating personalities, passive-aggressive people, complainers, and pessimists. It provides strategies for dealing with each type, such as maintaining self-control, picking battles, and asking for specifics. The document concludes with a story about a wise man who saw value even in those who criticized him, as it pushed him to improve.

2. The sum total of ways in which an individual
reacts and interacts with others.
Personality is a pattern of stable states and
characteristics of a person that influences his
or her behavior toward goal achievement

3. DEFINITION
Personality -A relatively stable
set of characteristics that
influences an individual’s
behaviour.

4. PERSONALITY DETERMINANTS
• Heredity
• Environment
• Situation
• Culture
• Family and social background

5. Myers-
Briggs
Sixteen
Primary
Traits

6. Most of us encounter unreasonable people in our lives. We
may be “stuck” with a difficult individual at work or at
home. It’s easy to let a challenging person affect us and
ruin our day.

7. How do the difficult people behave?
• They are negative.
• They are pot-stirrers. They are
selfish.
• They won’t take responsibility
for their behavior.
• They are arrogant.
• They are disrespectful. .
• They are passive-aggressive.
• They disregard policy.
• They are unmotivated and lazy.

8. TYPES
OF
DIFFICULT
PEOPLE

9. • Aggressive, in your face behavior verbal and physical
behavior…goal is control at all costs…I win/you lose!
• Tanks will never back down!
Deal with them by:
• Maintaining eye contact…
• Standing your ground, but not getting into a fight with
them…it will only escalate the fight
• Smiling/maintaining self control

10. Dominates conversation with lengthy, haughty
arguments, and eliminates opposition by finding flaws
and weaknesses to discredit other points of view. Is
very knowledgeable and competent.
Deal with them by:
. Picking your battles…sometimes it is best to ignore them
or thank them for the information.
. Never ever asking for their opinion
. Recognize that their knowledge is a valuable asset

11. Do not know what they are talking about, but they have
a knack for conversation and act like a professional.
Deal with them by:
 State the correct facts or give alternative opinions in
as much detail as you can.
 Move on to the next topic as soon as you correct a
balloon.
 This gives the balloon enough time to deflate with as
little embarrassment as possible.

12.  They lose themselves on analyzing things to death and never
get back on track;
 Have great difficulty saying anything that might be hurtful or
distressing to anyone so…they do nothing at all !
 Fraught with indecisiveness !
Deal with them by:
 Making sure they have a dead line and know the reason for
the dead line.
 Being helpful and providing background info to help them
make a decision to commit to work asked of them.

13.  Pessimistic;
 Tear down morale;
 Feel that those with power can’t be trusted…suspicious and
paranoid
 Feel like they have no control over anything;
Deal with them by:
 Ask what’s the worst that could happen?
 Don’t argue with them !
 Distance yourself from them or limit your time with them to
maintain a positive outlook;

14.  Nothing, it seems, is ever right for them;
 They give little specific information about the complaint;
 They usually state a complaint and then walk away;
Deal with them by:
 Ask them to do the opposite;
 Ask for specifics: who, what, when, where, why, and how;
 View the complainer as a resource. Sometimes what they complain about
really is a problem that needs to be resolved.

15. • Label them.
• Neutralize them
• Predict them.
• Inform them
• Ignore them.
• Avoid them.
• Expose them.
• Circumvent them.
• Use them.
• Confront them.
• Rehabilitate them.
• Discourage them.
• Ridicule them.
• Isolate them.

16. A story – The wise man and his nasty friend
• A long time ago, there was
an old man who lived near
a village and was well
known for his wisdom and
teachings.
• He used to share his
knowledge through
lectures and meetings and
his whole community was
very pleased for having
him around.

17. A story – The wise man and his nasty friend
• However, he used to be
followed by a man that
disagreed and criticized his
blessed messages.
• That nasty person was
always trying to damage his
image around the village.
• And because of that many
people didn’t like him.

18. A story – The wise man and his nasty friend
• After few years, the nasty man
became very sick and died.
• And many people noticed that
the wise man was quite sad
during the funeral services.
• And then, someone decided to
ask him the reasons of his
sadness and concerns.

19. A story – The wise man and his nasty friend
• “Master, why are you so sad?”
• “Well, today a good friend of mine has
died.”
• “But how could he be your friend?
Since he was behaving badly, trying to
damage your image, teaching and
always questioning you.”
• “Believe me, he was the only one that
pushed me to improve myself, helping
me to think and rethink about my words
and actions without any flattering
comments”.

20. A difficult point-of-view
• We need to agree that it is
very difficult to accept the
wise man’s teachings
when he referred to a
nasty person.
• And no one would like to
have a friend like that.

21. Main benefits
• But it is important to bear
in mind that in many
cases, such negative
people help us:
– to be more aware of our
own attitudes,
– to keep control,
– to behave better and
– to go even further.

22. Strategy 01 – Be prepared for a conflict
• The best way to deal with a conflict is
to anticipate it, developing ways to
handle a debate, remembering:
– Don’t be wishy-washy.
– Do uphold your morals and values
– Don’t be arrogant.
– Be self-confident.
– Be willing to compromise.
– Don’t let him/her get under your skin.
– Keep control of the situation.

27. You may have to deal with some funky behaviour like people coming in late, texting
on their phone, or falling asleep

28. But what can you do if you can’t tell them off

29. Like when the person misbehaving is senior to you

30. A prospect

31. Or a paying customer

32. You need to take control without losing your cool!

33. Take a deep breath and remind yourself

35. It works like magic

36. Difficult people are everywhere. Maybe
you're one of them? Or maybe, everyone is
difficult during certain moments of their life.
Either way, eventually you'll need to work
or compromise with a person that you think
is difficult
In conclusion, to know how to handle
unreasonable and difficult people is to truly
master the art of communication. As you
utilize these skills, you may experience less
grief, greater confidence, better
relationships, and higher communication
prowess. You are on your way to
leadership success….!!