Bad Day? How To Handle Work Frustrations

It is certain that at some point you’ll experience a big frustration at work. You may even get frustrated weekly!

How do you deal with frustrating unexpected work setbacks?

When I got really frustrated at work

As a manager it’s really tough when core people leave at the same time.

I’ve had a situation where my company did a hiring freeze of almost one year. On top of that, because they were cost cutting, they decided that any empty vacancies would be lost. Gone. Deleted. Forever. And fire a lot of people.

During those turbulent company times, I had good people in my team leave the company or be promoted to other teams. During that year, I lost more than half of my team. And the worst part is that I could not hire again. This half team was my new reality for a long time.

But our team still had to do the same amount of work. And I knew if I pushed the rest of my team too hard to compensate for the lost people, I’d eventually lose them.

What I learned

So what did I do? I had to learn how to become a better leader.

I had to learn to negotiate up, prioritize, say “no” a lot, and plan for the worst situations. I had my staff document their work, I had them learn each other’s work in case we needed back up, and I aggressively standardized processes. I had to get feedback regularly from my team to gauge their stress levels and motivation. I had to find ways to get them more motivated.

So let the bad times serve as a lesson to yourself. Learn to be a better leader.

Dealing with work frustrations

Frustrations can help set you apart from the rest, if you choose to raise to the challenge and become a better version of yourself.

It is easier to choose to be a better leader if you expect work frustrations and plan how you’ll respond to each of them if they happen. To prepare, ask yourself questions like these.

What would your inner leader do:

• If someone steals credit for work you do?
• If someone interrupts you at work?
• If your boss gives you a negative performance you disagree with?
• If resources are taken away from you?
• If you don’t get the appreciation or recognition you think you deserve?
• If your boss micromanages you?
• If you get passed over for promotion?
• If you are assigned to projects you don’t like?
• If your colleagues try to get you to gossip?
• If colleagues are passing their work on to you?
• If you feel overworked and underpaid?
• If you ask for more work-life balance and get a “no” as an answer?
• If you work really hard and don’t get noticed?
• If your boss or colleagues are holding key information from you?
• If you have a bad boss that makes you want to quit?

Answering these questions will instantly elevate your leadership and thinking. It will reduce your frustrations when they happen. And they may even give you a positive challenge to look forward to, the challenge of demonstrating your thoughtful leadership.

Assertive communication can help you handle these frustrating situations with poise, elegance, and maturity. Learn the basics of assertiveness in this free 9-part assertive communication video training.