Seven Steps to a Drama-Free Office

If you work with other people (and who doesn’t?) reflect on the last week and notice how much time you wasted in drama: the energy-draining behaviours or exchanges that keep you from what you really want to be doing.  Think about all the infighting, water-cooler talk, meaningless meetings, turf wars, pouting, rants, and other behaviours that blocked positive, productive interactions in your organization.  

Now, think about how many creative projects you could have completed, or how much time you could have spent having fun with friends and family if you had that time and energy back.  

By following these seven steps, you can shift yourself (and your team) away from drama to more enjoyable and productive tasks!

Step 1: Get Out of Your Own Drama

One of the most difficult challenges for aspiring leaders is to “own their stuff”-to acknowledge their own responsibility for relationship shortcomings.  So, before you can guide others, you must take inventory of both your interaction strengths (i.e., where you uplift relationships) and the ways you sabotage relationships. The strength inventory is usually easy. The sabotage inventory is more difficult. It requires the vulnerability and courage to seek others’ candid observations and advice about your behaviour. To find out your own drama tendencies, you can use self-reflection, ask your colleagues, or take a drama-assessment (http://www.dramafreeoffice.com/self-assessment-survey/). You can only help others when you are curious yourself. Take a deep breath, get re-centered and get out of your own way.  

 Step 2: Diagnose the Type of Drama in the Other Person Once you are committed to authenticity and curiosity yourself, you can determine what kind of drama the other person is displaying. There are four primary drama roles that emerge most frequently in office settings: the Complainer, the Controller, the Cynic and the Caretaker. You’ll need to use different strategies for different personality types-there is no “one size fits all” antidote for drama. Notice the kind of person you’re dealing with. Will they respond more to direct confrontation and setting boundaries (better for Controllers and Cynics), or to appreciation and encouragement (better for Caretakers and Complainers)? Know who you’re dealing with and tailor your approach to maximize your chance for shifting their behavior.

Step 3: Assess The Risk Of Confronting The Other Person Before meeting with drama-prone colleagues, you must identify and evaluate the potential downsides of a confrontation. Without objectively assessing these risks, you might be tempted to either accept a dysfunctional relationship you could have salvaged or make a misstep you could have avoided. So, before launching into a direct conversation with your boss or a team member, consider the possible side effects (e.g., nothing happens, it gets worse, they abruptly leave) and whether you’re willing to face them.  

Step 4: Develop Rapport with the Drama-Prone Person It’s important to establish rapport with the other person so he is best prepared to receive your message. Try opening with a blend of connection, appreciation, ground rules, and expectations. Your goal is to get the person’s full attention and to set him up to be receptive to your ideas.  People prefer to collaborate with those they know and like, so this step is powerful in setting the tone for the rest of the conversation.

Step 5: Have a Direct Conversation While an entire article could be written about direct conversations, when confronting a person about their drama, stay dispassionate and state “the facts” clearly and concisely. Also present the meaning you derived from the facts (i.e., your perceptions), and any emotions you experience-usually some combination of fear, anger, guilt or embarrassment.   This next part is a little tougher. Share with the person how you contributed to the situation (why it’s your fault, too). Then, end with a specific request. Usually these conversations end with an agreement about what will happen next to make sure the drama ends.   While this may sound simple, each component outlined above is worth practicing and mastering so that the entire conversation flows smoothly. For instance, it’s very easy to mix facts and derived meaning. People often say, “The facts are, you are being difficult.” When, in fact, the level of cooperation or difficulty of an individual is derived meaning or perception. One person may consider challenging an idea as difficult behaviour and another might appreciate it as a commitment to improvement.  

Step 6: Get Their Commitment The last step of the direct conversation in Step 5 is your specific requests or expectations of the person. A commitment to realize these expectations without excuses, sarcasm, self-pity, or martyrdom is often difficult to obtain from drama-prone people. They’ll dance around the expectation or rephrase them in vague terms. These deflection or evasion tactics are a self-protection mechanism that helps the dramatic person avoid both change and accountability. Don’t get hooked. Reiterate both your specific expectations and your need for the drama-prone person’s commitment to meet them. If she continues to resist or deflect, be prepared to calmly lay out an ultimatum, including specific rewards for meeting objectives and consequences for missing objectives.  

Step 7: Validate And Anchor Their Commitment And New Behaviour Praise the person for his positive behaviours during your meeting, and honour the commitments he made. Follow up with a short note or e-mail confirming and affirming the person’s commitments. Ideally, ask them to create a summary of your meeting that includes their specific agreements. People live up to what they write down.   Once you’ve done these seven steps, you have done the hard work. Now you can redirect your energy toward the collaborative, meaningful projects that you enjoy doing, and work in an office free from drama.

Kaley Klemp and Jim Warner are the authors of The Drama-Free Office: A Guide to Healthy Collaboration with Your Team, Coworkers, and Boss. You can get a free sample of the book on Facebook, www.facebook.com/KaleyKlemp, follow them on twitter, @KaleyKlemp and read more about them at www.DramaFreeOffice.com.