Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Book ReviewsHR practice

How People Tick – A Guide to Difficult People and How to Handle Them

by Personnel Today 14 Mar 2006
by Personnel Today 14 Mar 2006

How People Tick – A Guide to Difficult People and How to Handle Them

Author: Mike Leibling

Price: 9.99

Pages: 182

Publisher: Kogan Page

ISBN: 0 7494 4362 6

howpeopletick.gif

Buy this book at Amazon

This book is well-written, light-hearted in parts, and seeks to look behind the different displays of behaviour and why people act the way they do.
It has 45 user-friendly short sections describing a behavioural trait that we will recognise, how it can happen and then tips for handling it. In the main, these tips are practical and workable and the reader can choose their preferred route.

One example of this is a chapter on ‘dumpers’ – people who mistakenly believe they are delegators. The tips Leibling gives can be turned around so as to be useful to any of us who may find ourselves on either end of this situation.

The book also includes short practical advice which is easily digested, such as when being confronted by an angry person, say “You’re right!” This is not easy to do, but we can probably all recall a time where this may have helped diffuse the situation by totally surprising the person with this unexpected reaction.

The author is an experienced coach and facilitator. The tips he gives are all underpinned by some key principles, such as separating the behaviour displayed from the actual person; investing time in prevention rather than having to solve problems once they have happened; focusing on targets for future behaviour rather than on what has happened in the past, and responding to problems in open, assertive ways.
I would definitely recommend this book both as an enjoyable holiday read as well as a textbook to keep in the drawer at work and use when the need arises.

Useful? Five stars 
Well-written? Four stars
Practical? Five stars
Inspirational? Four stars
Value for money? Four stars
Overall Fours stars

Reviewed by Angela Grant, HR manager, Alcoa CSI UK

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Avon police chief admits race recruitment blunder
next post
Age discrimination is already illegal

You may also like

Four-day week: what are the legal considerations for...

28 Jun 2022

Sickness absence rate in 2021 was highest in...

8 Jun 2022

Right-to-work: first digital identity check providers revealed

6 Jun 2022

Bank holidays: six things employers need to know

5 Jun 2022

Does a four day week work? Charlotte Lockhart...

1 Jun 2022

Hybrid working will ‘never be perfect’, finds report

31 May 2022

Employers must help employees ‘flourish’ post-pandemic

27 May 2022

Davos 2022: Upskilling workers necessary to overcome business...

26 May 2022

Lack of flexibility pushes half of women to...

16 May 2022

Queen’s Speech: Exclusivity contracts for low-paid workers to...

9 May 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+