My Colleague is a Chatterbox! How can I work?

Don't boil yourself down with frustration! Follow these three easy steps and don't let your productivity at work go down because of an annoying colleague who won't stop blabbering about anything that crosses his or her mind!

Follow these three easy steps to 'politely' rid yourself of that chatterbox!

1. Say something in the moment.

Rather than letting your co-worker rambling on, with you staring at her eyes and lips and gazing at the window, hoping that she will realise that you are actually very busy and would like to move on with work, simple say so: 'I'm sorry to cut you short, but I have a really tight deadline', or 'Sorry, I'll be with you soon - I need to send some emails', or even, 'I'm actually in the middle of something'. Of course, your co-worker should get the message and probably won't wait for you till you finish whatever you're doing.

2. Address the pattern.

When the problem is less about lengthy social conversations and more about multiple small interruptions, say: "It's hard for me to get my focus pulled away. What if we instead scheduled one or two meetings a week to talk about whatever items we need to discuss? That way you'd get the responses you need from me, but it would help keep me from breaking my concentration."

Or else...you can give a more lengthy description:

"Jane, I've noticed you like to drop by and chat! I enjoy talking with you, but it's hard for me to do much of that during the work day. I usually need to get back to work pretty quickly." If you do genuinely enjoy your co-worker's company, you could add something like, "I'd love to get coffee with you sometime, but I've got to do a better job of not letting us get into longer conversations when I should be working."

3. Decide if it's really getting out of hand, and you might need to speak to the manager.

If trying to avoid your colleague, or being up-front about it, where you tell her that she or he is impeding your work, you might consider to take a more 'serious' step and put your preoccupations forward to your (or your co-worker's) manager. Many managers would appreciate a heads-up and will (most often) try to help in sorting the situation out. 

So...Good Luck!

All in all, what's most important is that if something is bothering you, try to resolve it in one way or another. Don't stay frustrated and let a colleague hindering your productivity at work in the meantime!

Article adapted from Aol

Nikita Pisani at Muovo

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