3 Ways to Calm Yourself if Things Go out of Hands at The Workplace These simple tips can help professionals to stay calm and convert heated arguments into constructive talks
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All of us go through some good days and some bad days in professional lives. While there are days we are in the happy-go-lucky mood, some days we end up losing our cool over trivial issues at workplace. From a junior's silly mistake to a boss' reprimand, at times it feels that the level of frustration has crossed its limits, and there is probably no one who can understand your situation.
Entrepreneur India talked to a few entrepreneurs and psychologists to know how one can deal with such situations. These simple tips can help professionals to stay calm and convert heated arguments into constructive talks.
Give Yourself Time Before Talking
Your inner annoyance must never disrupt your work. Experts believe that if you're not in a good mood, you should take some spare time before getting into work. Dr Pulkit Sharma, a Delhi-based psychologist advises not to run into work meetings and take at least 10 minutes to calm your mind. "Close your eyes, take a deep breathe, relax your mind and then attend the necessities at office," says Sharma.
Talking about the consequences one can face if one begins talking to people with an agitated mind, he says, "What happens is after a point of time, people also start retaliating." Even if you're about to tell someone a bad news, you should start with a positive note, so that the end impression is good, he adds.
Get Empathy in Conversations
While interacting with diverse personalities at work, sometimes we get involved in conflict of opinions with colleagues that gets difficult to deal with. Recounting her work experiences, the Founder of BConnect Communication, Neha Bahri says conflicts at workplace leave behind a negative impact and also distort the quality of work.
"There are different personalities out in the world. And it's quite natural to have counter opinions. You should keep your points across understanding the people's behavior," believes Bahri. Her tip for others is to let your counterpart keep his/her point at first, and then you lead the discussion over it.
She thinks sometimes it's important to be in someone else's shoes to understand their point of view. "It is important to analyze each point of opinion and come out with a cumulative decision," says Bahri.
Be a "Conflict Preventer'
As much as it's significant to speak for yourself and stand by your point, it's also necessary to avoid pointless arguments at work. Indulgence in unnecessary conflicts at workplace can muddle your mind.
One should be a conflict preventer, says the author of Managing Conflict at Work, Clive Johnson in his book that provides a wide range of techniques and tactics via which an entrepreneur can manage employee disputes at workplace. The book also suggests simple ways to manage conflicting situations and not to escalate them.