Being easy to work with isn’t a personality. It’s a skill set, and you can practice it.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Being easy to work with is made of specific, learnable behaviours. Replying when you said you would, saying clearly what you can and cannot do, flagging a problem early instead of at the deadline, taking a correction without a defence attached. Every one of those can be practised, and their absence is what people mean when they call someone difficult.

Work on one of them for a month. Reliability is the easiest to start with, since it only asks you to promise less and deliver what you promised. People notice that faster than they notice talent.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What makes you hard to work with on a bad day?

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