7 Actions to Practice Diplomacy At Work - Avoid Offending Colleagues

Practice diplomacy at work and you will go further in your career, be liked and appreciated by more people, build better relationships and be seen as more professional.

I share 7 Actions to improve diplomacy in the workplace and avoid offending colleagues plus three compelling benefits of being diplomatic at work.

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Video Time Stamps:

00:00 Intro
01:59 Diplomacy Improves Communication Skills
03:10 Diplomacy Builds Stronger Relationships
04:47 Being diplomatic Demonstrates Management Potential
05:56 7 Actions to be more Diplomatic at work
10:35 In Summary

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Being diplomatic at work and expressing opinion without offending are incredibly important skills for the workplace. The manager benefits of not offending others is even greater as they have to get on with a wider range of people.

Being able to communicate with diplomacy significantly improves your communication skills. One half of communicating relies on the other person and people who are annoyed, insulted or angry simply don’t listen.

I have included examples of being diplomatic at work within the video.

All of us rely on others within the workplace to do our own jobs well. Nearly everyone is part of a team. To build good relationships avoid offending others at work.

Some of the benefits of not offending others include being able to be more honest and direct with feedback, which increases the improve their performance, plus you build trust a lot quicker. Higher levels of trust mean deeper, stronger relationships with co-workers. So practice diplomacy to avoid offending co-workers.

Managers often have more contact with suppliers, customers and internal stakeholders therefore the manager benefits of diplomacy multiply considerably.

I take you through 7 actions to practice diplomacy at work. Each is practical and useful in any position and particularly in management. Being diplomatic at work is a skill which needs practice to get good.

Enjoy being more influential and getting your way more often!

If you have any questions on “7 Actions to Practice Diplomacy at Work – Avoid Offending Colleagues”, please leave them in the comments section and I will get back to you.

Jess Coles

[patrickmoffa]

This really spoke to me. I am usually very direct with most people and most of time did not care about feelings, now learning how to craft my messages more better considering their feelings and getting better results and less arguments.

[RETRONICK]

This really helped, I grew up in a generation of direct leadership now as my career advances in this new generation I have to have diplomatic answers and statements.

[stevekessler]

Packaging your message in a more persuasive and palatable form. I really like this statement. I have a strong conviction about being truthful. And my boss has been asking me to be more diplomatic in some of my communication to our clients to not create unnecessary alarm in them. I was wrestling with some of the suggested replies he had given me because if I were to say it that way, it feels like I am being dishonest. But, this perspective, that diplomacy is not about being dishonest but packaging in a way that is winning, is a very helpful paradigm shift. Thank you!

[anneliu]

Thanks for the great advice. As a straightforward individual, I will keep practicing those skills.

[abubakirRahmatullayev-mh]

I love it 🥰
It can help me to improve my communication skills at work

[AnnaSzabo]

I have no idea how to even begin speaking in a tone of voice like yours… but I want to learn!

Just messaged you on LinkedIn. Thank you, Jess.

[mixedshorts]

great video and brilliant speaking style, i appreciate the effort .
do you have any suggestions on books to read to understand diplomacy and how to practice it ?

[reneejolly]

I have a person who doesn't like me at work. And, when someone else says something they shouldn't, and I reply or join the convo after they started talking about things they shouldn't say... but I ended up replying to something in a way i didn't mean, they report that I was the person doing everything wrong.... when they were, so I basically ended up trying to be a part of a team conversation when several others were wrong for their conversation, and the minute I say anything they can try to make come off worse than theirs, they try to get me in trouble for the whole conversation.... idk how to fix that misinterpretation, or the personal biased they have to make everything my fault when it's not

[ashweythsunil]

Hey Jess, here's one I recently stuggled with "I'd suggest making changes to your resume to better fit the role you are looking for", somehow I feel it still offended the person

[Johnwick]

My manager is extremely bossy when I provide him ideas he just tries to silences me. He says you have to do what I say. He thinks I’m good and tries to limit me to open up. He insults me during the team meeting. I have conveyed him multiple times before to be respectful, but he never changed. I’m really done with him and want to escalate because it’s effecting me mentally. Please advise how to handle this diplomatically.

[careergeek]

How to say
“ I don’t want to take meetings on your behalf. As CTO this is our expectation that you will be managing your team directly “