When Someone Is Upset With You
Most of us have ample experience with someone being frustrated, irritated or angry about something we’ve said, done or not said or not done. If you rarely have had anyone feel that way about you, you’re either a saint, very fortunate or completely oblivious to the world around you! (I know a few of you who seem to be able to combine all three!)
Work communication is difficult enough without getting the silent treatment or having someone purposely work against us because they are upset about something. Consider these tips for starting to get things back to normal–whatever that is!
1. Don’t let communications lapse. You don’t have to force conversation, just ensure that you don’t diminish the level of communication you would normally have. If possible, try to increase it somewhat, in a comfortable way.
2. If you don’t know the source of the anger or upset, ask. Listen without disagreeing or arguing. Often just the process of talking about it will help the other person know you want to move forward.
3 . Briefly apologize for the problem then put the focus back on work. Most people are anxious for bad feelings to be over. If you can give them a chance to express that they are upset–or even to deny they are, but at least you’re showing interest–that may be enough to turn the corner.
If you don’t feel you were wrong, don’t say you were. I have never supported the idea of falsely accepting blame. Sometimes people are upset, but they were the cause of the problem–or at least you were not the cause of it. If you want to smooth things out a bit you can say something neutral like, “I think we both just want to do our jobs and have a good place to work, so that’s what I’m going to focus on.” It’s hard to disagree with that or even to push for more conciliatory language.
4. Continue your normal communications with everyone, including with that person.You probably won’t need to mention the situation again, just keep going on with work as usual. If you find you are getting the cold shoulder from many people very often, take that as an indicator that you may need to adjust, change and improve in some areas. Not necessarily, but maybe.
5. Don’t talk too much about it to others. There is a temptation to try to win allies or to reinforce that you did nothing wrong. Your best approach is to simply continue being effective with others rather than dragging them into a quarrel. If you talk about it to others you can bet it will get back to the person involved and that will add to the problems. (Even your best friend will leak the conversation to someone.)
If you are generally on good terms with the person who is upset with you now, time will repair problems. If not, you can either work to build a better relationship in the future or limit your time with them if possible and pay close attention to your communications. If you were surprised at the reaction you received from them–now you know.
6. Keep moving forward in positive ways. That will do the most to help you in your work, in your relationship with the upset person and with others. Let them see the person you want to be and the way you want to be viewed by others.
