I am in training for a new position at my work and the person training me is soooooooooo difficult to work with. He gives one word answers to everything, which means it takes a whole lot of questions from me to get the proper answer out of him. I have been working with him for two weeks now and he is already driving me nuts. I have tried talking this issue out with him but it just doesn’t seem to work. He is really good at what he does and I know I am learning many valuable things about the job from him but how can I deal with his difficult nature? I have 1.5 more months of training left with him and I don’t know if my sanity will still be intact after I am done my training. Please share some tips of dealing with such people …
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
can you back it up with some example
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
some people think sharing knowledge will somehow take away from their expertise. 
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
I am learning city dispatch from him so when he decides to send a driver to Company A instead of B I would ask ...
Me: Why did you send him to A when you could have sent him to B for a pick up?
Him: Closer.
Me: What closer?
Him: A.
Me: But he is closer to B too.
Him: More skids.
Me: But he has over 10 skid spots!
Him: Oddly shaped freight.
Me: Ok so B has oddly shaped freight and needs more room so you chose to send him to A because it's closer and he has enough room for them?
Him: Yes.
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's like solving a puzzle using the clues he gives.
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Some people are like this and while you may think that he is jealous or something, more than often the case is that he isn't. Similar case happened with me while I was on training and the guys in 'supposedly best department' thought of me as a burden. What I did to get their attention was
1)Built a rapport with everyone by taking them out on lunch/joking with them
2)I got a task and I nailed it, exceeding the targets by over 200%
3)Asked specific and short questions
Apart from these what you can do is read up department memos, manuals, past correspondence, files etc so that you are well versed with the basic and you do not ask stupid questions as that usually puts off a lot of people. A little more detail about where you work and what role and you may get better responses.
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Doesn't really sound like a difficult colleague. Someone who is really good at what he does might not be as good when it comes to imparting the knowledge onward. Some people just aren't that passionate about training rookies. You said you are learning many valuable things, so its not exactly a bad thing. Perhaps that is just the way he is, deal with it and make sure you grasp as much knowledge as you can. Unless your frequent questioning ends up annoying him, in which case you could try explaining the reason.
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Peace spoko
You need to adjust as well. Think really hard before asking him a question, perhaps you can answer it yourself ...
If not, explain to him your thinking process and ask him to explain where you have gone wrong.
So instead of asking ... "why did you ... " say "I was looking at all the parameters that enable me to decide who to send him to and these are the parameters, what other parameters are there that I should be considering?" Then after the response ask "Are these all of them?"
You can draw out a process map of certain routines and procedures and ask him ... "Is this process correct?"
And lastly ... observe him very carefully ... sometimes it is not necessary to know why something is being done ... simply observe and follow and in time the wisdom of that becomes apparent anyway ...
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
some people just suck at teaching other people.
If they are good at it, it probably comes really naturally so when it comes naturally its hard for them to explain because theyve never needed an explanation.
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
I would love to have a colleague who doesnt talk much. I am not sure what you are talking about but if this person is good at what he/she does, then this colleague of yours is actually going to be a super star in the future..just wait and watch..lol
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
woah spoko i'm actually going through the difficult colleague thing too but with another woman. good that you started it instead, can't wait to read the replies
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Oh life1 where were you a month ago when I needed advice.
Errrr (frgot about blogs and texts)
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Frame your questions right to make sure you do not get one word question.
For example your first question would have been.
Please can you tell me all the reasons why you sent Driver to Company A instead of Company B.
In this situation where someone responds with one word answer you have to word your questions carefully so that he would be forced to provide a detailed answer.
If you are unable to do that then live with it for one and a half month.
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
doesnt sound like a difficult colleagut, but instead someone who may not be illistrative enough in terms if explaining scenarios. Maybe, he's not a proper trainer-trainer.. but someone who has really good understanding of the business and task at hand.
Instead of getting frustrated, I would ask a more open ended question to get an answer with more than one word. The questions you are asking (in the example you gave) are really one word answer type questions... and for someone who doesnt talk much in the first place, and who really knwos their stuff, will most likely give you a one word answer back
Unless you phrase your questions in a way (like maybe group them all together) he can be more elaborate in his responses too
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
woops should have read Mirch's response first :)
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
uh some people are just not good at explaining to others. Not everyone can explain why for example one plus one is two.
he just needs to get used to it I guess. and I'm assuming you're not a visual person and need everything explained to you orally so why not tell him that?
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
^ it goes both ways. One needs to explain the question properly for a person to respond appropriately
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Maybe he finds you annoying?
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
After 2 .5 weeks of being with him he finally said 'good job' to me today. I am so happy because he never says good job to anyone.
The reason I cannot take time to think or draw out a process map is because everything is so fast paced. We usually have calls coming in constantly, drivers on hold, drivers standing around waiting for us to give them things to do, deliveries, customers calling etc etc. We deal with over a 100 drivers at a time and I already have difficulty remembering who is where and who is doing what and who is who etc etc. There are thousands of customers, priority, switches, spots, live loads. I can't even remember the drivers' names and I keep mixing them up. I am only learning it to get a better understanding of operations in our company. Learning by observing doesn't work because he does things so fast, like talking to 2 people at once while at the same time doing the paperwork. I asked him to slow down so I can see how he is assigning calls or who he is giving what to but he still does it really fast. So unless I ask lots of questions there is no other way for me to learn. My questions don't annoy him because I can ask him a thousand questions and he will still reply back in the same monotonous tone. I have a meeting tomorrow with the operations manager and I am sure he will ask how my training is going. On one hand I want to be honest and tell him that I am having a hard time learning like this. On the other hand I feel like I should just give it a couple more weeks and then see where things stand.
Another thing someone mentioned to me today is that may be I am not being taken seriously. I am the only female dispatcher working with all male drivers, all male dock staff, and all male dispatch staff. When I worked in the main office it was all females and only 2 guys. Maybe they feel that I am only here for a little time and then I'll be gone so they don't need to waste their time teaching me?
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
there is a phrase in punjabi that " jab naukri ki tey nakhra ki " you have to face so many difficult and different people and situation at work place and you have to mould / adjust yourself to work with them.....that is really the way things are & I am sure people around you are also trying to adjust with you . That guy does not really sound like a problem to me you just need to word your questions in such a way that you may get a comprehensive answer.
Re: How to deal with a difficult colleague
Another thing someone mentioned to me today is that may be I am not being taken seriously. I am the only female dispatcher working with all male drivers, all male dock staff, and all male dispatch staff. When I worked in the main office it was all females and only 2 guys. Maybe they feel that I am only here for a little time and then I'll be gone so they don't need to waste their time teaching me?
i don't think that is the case