My talk for Big Design USA 2015: a framework for understanding individuals most people can't stand—luckily, the audience was sitting down. To keep audience interest, humor was sprinkled throughout and motion was applied to slides.
The Four Intents
This chart attempts to make our present reality simpler to understand. These four intentions frame our actions and behavior in difficult moments:
Get it right
Get it done
Get along
Get appreciated
There is a normal zone for everyone of us that is healthy and productive. During times of challenge, difficulty or stress, people may move outside of the normal zone and become difficult people.
The Ten
These are the people we become when we move outside our normal zone.
Change is Possible
As members of the design community, we use a variety of tools to better understand the user. We invest time trying to see things from our customer’s eyes, shouldn’t it be possible for us to see things from our office mates’ as well?
Most other professions don’t try to get into the mind of another individual the way UX designers do. If there’s one community where positive change is possible, I believe it is in the design community.
Dealing with a Tank
A walkthrough of how to deal with the most obnoxious of difficult personalities, the tank. Hold your ground without counterattacking, defending or shutting down.
Presentation adapted and inspired from Dealing with People You Can't Stand by Rick Kirschner and Rick Brinkman and Coping with Difficult People by Robert Bramson ... and the many difficult people I've worked with over the years!
