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
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
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