How To React When You’ve Been Blindsided By A Coworker

by Courtney Connley

March 6, 2024

Don’t let your frustration get the better of you.

Originally Published April 28, 2016.

While being blindsided by a coworker is never ideal, it’s a situation that many of us have or will experience in the workplace. If you find yourself in a predicament with a coworker that you feel is shady, use the below tips to sort through the situation.

Communicate

Getting last minute notice that a coworker is leaving your team or dividing their time between your department and someone else’s department is never a good thing, but one that can easily happen to us. Rather than getting upset with your coworker about their lack of communication, be the bigger person: Ask them directly what’s happening. A simple conversation can help you clarify any fuzzy details and it will allow you to hear an explanation for why things unfolded the way they did.

Be honest

Being honest with a colleague isn’t always easy, but it’s the necessary thing to do if you really want them to understand how you feel. Opening up about why you felt a situation was wrong will not only help to prevent your coworker from handling things the same way in the future, it can help them to reflect and rethink their approach to things and how it affects those around them.

Take time to assess the situation

Oftentimes, we jump to conclusions about a situation that we feel we were excluded from. Who else knows besides me? Why was I the last person to find out? Before getting lost in the situation, take time to really assess how things panned out. Ask yourself, “Is this a situation that involves my input? Do I only want to be in the loop for egotistical reasons? If the answer to these questions is “yes,” reassess why you’re stressing about the situation.

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