Holding back your anger can be extremely challenging when you’re pressured at work while a colleague is making things harder for you. It’s enough for you to shout at the top of your lungs. You also know, however, that blowing off your top won’t lead to anything good.
Say, you’re working hard to secure that membership management service with your IT suppliers, but a colleague is also working hard to be difficult, here are some tips you can use to keep yourself in check.
Don’t fight back
When working in an office environment, your mind will always remind you to avoid any inappropriate behaviour. If you don’t, the consequences may be severe. Expressing your fury could even get you terminated.
However, this doesn’t mean that you have to bottle up all your anger and frustration. This wouldn’t be healthy for yourself, too. What you can do instead is to find a private spot in the building, for example, a secluded staircase or the fire exit. There, let it all out.
Letting yourself vent your anger and frustration will help you manage your anger more effectively afterwards. Once you’re done screaming, you can collect yourself and approach the dilemma with a clearer head.
Breathe deeply
Yoga practitioners use breathing exercises to moderate their heart rate and ease the tension in their muscles. You can also use these routines to help cool yourself down when you’re in a toxic situation.
All you have to do is to inhale deeply through your nose and keep the air in your lungs for five to 10 seconds. Then, exhale deeply while counting one to 10. Repeat the process until you feel that your heart rate has slowed down and you’re no longer as irate as before.
Avoid the triggers
Another way to prevent yourself from blowing up like a volcano is to know what triggers you. Do your best to prevent those triggers from showing up. What this means is that if you have an employee who’s notorious for not delivering reports on time, then do what is necessary to put the pressure on them and not on yourself.
You can tell them that if they submit another late report, you’ll make sure that this behaviour of them will be discussed at length in their upcoming evaluation. This way, you put the pressure on them to perform better, removing the chance of them triggering your anger.
Surround yourself with people who can help
If you’re a manager, you have the authority to redistribute an employee who’s always getting on your nerves. If you do have an employee who performs poorly and frequently gives you headaches, it could be better to just remove them from your team than work on placating yourself.
Besides, your job is to help the company increase its profits and not work on becoming the best manager ever. So, if you have a good reason to let an irritating employee go, do it. Not only will you keep your anger in check but you can also focus more on helping the business grow.
