The HBR Work Smart Collection (4 Books)

7 Three Types of Difficult Coworkers and How to Work with Them

by Amy Gallo

In every workplace, there are people—many of whom have earned respect and positions of power—who behave in ways that are thoughtless, ambiguous, irrational, and even sometimes downright malicious.

It can be challenging to know exactly how to work with people who act like this. Odds are, no one has sat you down and said, “Here’s how you push back on an aggressive know-it-all,” or “Try this approach for dealing with an incessant naysayer.” You likely never took a class on handling a colleague who plays dirty office politics or had a mentor share advice on what to do if you find yourself working for an incompetent boss.

However, when we don’t address these small conflicts ...