***Pick Up the Sword?

That’s it YOU have had it. You are tired of dealing with that person. THEY are always doing things on purpose to make you look bad. THEY are always doing things on purpose to get on YOUR nerves. Well it is time to do something, so YOU are going on the attack. Going on the attack can mean different things to different people or different things in different environments. For the purposes of our conversation you are not planning a physical attack. This is the workplace and let’s assume an office environment. Your form of attack looks something like this:

* You write a scathing email to your ‘enemy’. You berate them for the lack of job skills and you accuse them of purposefully yanking your chain.
* To ensure that your email delivers full impact you CC your boss (and her boss), your enemy’s boss (and his boss) and all of your team members.
* You are really showing everyone that you mean business.
* You just declared war on your ‘enemy’.

BEFORE you go on the attack, consider this quote:

“If you ain't never pick up the sword, you ain't never have to worry about fallin' on it.”… Meldrick Lewis

When you first hit send on your scathing email, you probably feel fully justified, you think, “So there take that!” The next thing you know your phone rings and it is your boss and she says, “You need to come see me RIGHT NOW.” She does not sound happy. Turns out she is really displeased, at YOU. She doesn’t want to hear about what this other person did, she wants to know what YOU were thinking. Why did you think it was appropriate to start a battle?

So before you decide to go to battle with a co-worker, another team or department or friend, think about what YOU are doing. Do you really need to start a hostile situation? Do you really need to retaliate toward someone who wronged you?

Peace at work begins with you.