When I was Head of Operations at an investment fund, it was my job to solve problems as they arose. I was very clear on my role, and everyone in the office was clear on my role too.
What I didn’t appreciate though was that most of my interactions with others would revolve around problems. People would see me approach and suddenly have a negative feeling because it likely meant that something was wrong. They had nothing against me on a personal level, and they knew that it was part of my job, but this didn’t stop the negative association.
When I realised this, I made sure that the majority of my interactions with others would be positive. I would bring chocolate for the office, or offer to get coffee, or simply have conversations to connect on a personal level.
I still needed to raise problems with people from time-to-time, but because I focussed on building positive connections I was able to remove the negative association.
As Maya Angelou said, “…People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”
Even if your role is challenging for others, how can you develop a positive association overtime?