Throughout my career, I have come across colleagues and
higher ups that I had a great rapport with, but others were downright scary to
approach. The reality is, you can’t break up with your co-workers (although you
may want to); you need to make these relationships work. Here are some
principles and techniques that helped me talk to the scariest of my former Wall
Street brethren. I hope they help you too.
You can’t change your co-workers; you can only change your
response to them
The bottom line is you can’t fix or change your co-workers,
but you can alter your response to them. If you are really calm on the inside,
your crazy co-worker on the outside will bother you less. Find a way to get
relaxed, (meditate, do yoga), sit back and watch the insanity, and try not to get
wrapped up in it. Easier said than done, I know, but over time, with practice,
like anything else, it will get easier.
Clear the fear: Meditate
You need to leave early, or take a gym break during crunch
time, or get some clarification about a task: completely legitimate things to
ask your superiors about–but I see a lot of fear especially with younger folks
(I was there once too) around approaching upper management on these matters.
Next time you feel such jitters, try this meditation from the Energy Healing
Institute: imagine lighting up the fear in the form of little iron filings
(Etch a sketch style) and sending it down a bamboo pole; you can do this while
running, walking to the water cooler or a traditional seated mediation prior to
your workday.
Get out of your head: Say something
Throughout my career, I would be up in my head
over-analyzing the person I was afraid to approach and what they thought of me.
