Can I respect someone I don’t like?

In our personal friendship groups we can choose who we spend time with but what about in our professional lives?

We spend a very large portion of our lives with our workmates and sometimes we don't really like them all.

We all have individual personalities, backgrounds and interests and naturally we all have people that we relate to better than others.

Likewise, some people simply do not get along and the possibility of friendship seems impossible. That's ok, that's human nature.

In our personal friendship groups we can choose who we spend time with but what about in our professional lives? We spend a very large portion of our lives with our workmates and sometimes we don't really like them all.

How can I act respectfully to someone I just don't like?

Firstly, self-awareness and understanding of our own attitudes and biases (more on this another time) will help us to be willing to acknowledge and respect difference in others.

Secondly, be present and interested. You don't need to know everything about another person to be able to respect them but without opening your mind you may never give them a chance.

Respect at Work training can help your workplace, contact us for a chat.