Dealing With Difficult Behaviours - Perth

Dealing With Difficult Behaviours - Perth

You know that colleague who rolls their eyes every time a new policy gets announced? Or the team member who seems to turn every meeting into a battlefield? We've all worked with people whose behaviour makes our jobs harder than they need to be. The thing is, difficult behaviour isn't going away - but your response to it can change everything.

Here's what I've learned after years of dealing with challenging personalities in the workplace: most "difficult" people aren't actually trying to be difficult. They're usually frustrated, overwhelmed, or feeling unheard. But that doesn't mean you have to put up with behaviour that's disrupting your team or making your work life miserable.

This isn't one of those training sessions where we pretend everyone's going to suddenly become best friends. Real workplaces have real personality clashes, stress-induced outbursts, and people who just seem to rub each other the wrong way. What we're going to focus on are practical strategies that actually work when you're dealing with someone who's being defensive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, or just plain unreasonable.

I'll show you how to spot the early warning signs before a situation escalates. You'll learn specific phrases that can defuse tension without making you sound like you're reading from a script. We'll practice techniques for setting boundaries that stick, even with people who love to push limits. And yes, we'll talk about when it's time to involve your manager or HR - because sometimes that's exactly the right call.

You'll also discover why trying to "fix" difficult people rarely works, but changing how you interact with them almost always does. We'll cover everything from handling interruptions and pushback in meetings to dealing with colleagues who seem to thrive on drama. This is about protecting your own energy while still getting your job done effectively.

What You'll Learn:
- How to identify different types of difficult behaviour and what's usually driving them
- Specific communication techniques that work with defensive or aggressive personalities
- Ways to set clear boundaries without creating more conflict
- Strategies for staying calm and professional when someone's pushing your buttons
- When and how to escalate issues appropriately
- How to document problematic behaviour effectively
- Techniques for protecting your own wellbeing in challenging workplace relationships

The Bottom Line:
You can't control other people's behaviour, but you can control how you respond to it. By the end of this session, you'll have a toolkit of practical strategies that you can use immediately. You'll feel more confident handling difficult conversations, and you'll know exactly what to do when someone's behaviour is affecting your work or your team's productivity. Most importantly, you'll stop dreading interactions with challenging colleagues and start seeing them as problems you can actually solve.

This training is available in Perth, but we also offer dealing with difficult behaviours sessions across Australia. For teams dealing with broader communication challenges, you might also want to consider our managing difficult conversations workshop.