Difficult People, Challenging Customers, Angry Yellers.... are these the birds that land in your nest?

Difficult people, challenging customers, angry yellers- call them what you want, but at some point everybody gets to work with one of these folks eventually.  The other piece is just when you think that you are free of this one person, a new person that is the same or worse comes across your desk. Ever feel that you are a target for this.  It’s a cycle that you can’t get out of, leaving you frustrated, dreading coming to work, ready to quit, thinking about jumping off a tower, or thinking you never should have quit that job at the toxic waste dump. So what can we do to work with people that push every button we have? We need a plan.

Yes, a plan! Why do you need a plan?

§  To keep the contact with the customer on track towards accomplishing a goal- the goal of the contact or the bigger goal

§  To keep the encounter with the customer professional, so everyone customer and workforce development professional alike say cool-headed.

Part of your plan must be some analyzing of the challenging person’s displayed behavior. It’s not always the big picture inside the person’s head of why does this person do what they do. The majority of workforce development professionals are not equipped to handle what might be happening with this person, but rather the what happens when the person comes to or contacts an office.  Most likely you are not the first person to experience the wrath of this person. So what “sets off” this person? Some things to consider, but not an all-inclusive list:

§  Environmental considerations- waiting room, open spaces, closed spaces, offices, cubicles, distractions in the environment

§  Time- Some people are like clocks. Once you pass a time tolerance, the appointment is downhill from there

§  Characteristics of the Workforce Development Professional- Unfortunately the world is not a tolerant place all the time. Sometimes people are not happy with the diversity of people and their personalities. Some people have issues with gender, race, ethnicity, accents, body size, and perceived (not true) characteristics of the professional. The only thing I have to say is that this sucks, but understanding that progress will not be made without understanding of this will not get the job done.

§  Government – It doesn’t matter if your paycheck comes directly from a state or federal agency or you are contracted out, some people have issues with government and as a workforce development professional you may represent the government in this person’s eyes. You may represent a conspiracy or everything that is this person feels is wrong with government such as bureaucracy or inefficiency.

Once you analyze the past encounters with the person you will have a better idea of what is going to put the person on the wrong path at the next encounter. You will need to then make a plan to avoid these triggers. The first step is to understand what you need to accomplish at this contact. Make a list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to guide the contact with the person to stay on task. Keep it as concise, brief, and to the point.

Finally after you have met with this person, be sure to document the contact with the person and review your actions. If the person is a challenge, you want to have a paper trail.  Follow up when necessary and be consistent in doing so. Consistency is the key to working with someone that is challenging. Make sure you review your actions and next steps, so that you can move this person to his goal in an efficient manner.

 

This past week a colleague contacted me, frustrated at that point where he had enough with a specific customer he was working with.  We discussed the specific behaviors of the customer. The customer was very demanding of time and resources to the point where it was disrupting the services being received by other customers that were working with same workforce development professional. Every time there was an office visit with this customer, the same behavior would be displayed. In this case, the supervisor was aware that this customer was challenging, but the customer had not crossed any lines that would make the behavior grounds for a management intervention. During the discussion about the appointments, it became apparent that when there was a break in conversation, the person would use the opportunity to interject other material that was not directly related to the conversation and begin on a path that would derail the progress of the appointment. We developed a strategy for working with this person where the appointments would be time limited and that the goals of the appointment would be clearly defined before the appointment. The workforce development professional agreed to try these strategies. Only time will tell if the customer continues on this path, but the workforce development professional felt more in control and ready to handle this customer.

 

Pondering Points:

 

      §  What strategies do you use when working with customers that are a challenge to you?

 

 

      §  How do you define success when working with a difficult customer?

I would love to hear your stories of people that were a challenge and how you overcame them. Feel free to post your comments below or email me at kcirincione@gmail.com. I hope everyone is having a safe and happy summer! Thank you for reading. ~ Karen Cirincione