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Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to set the expectation that if anyone nixes a plan, they need to propose an alternative.

No roadblocks without detours as a policy makes everything feel more fair.

Today's tip comes from Amy Gallo, author of the new book, Getting Along,

How to Work with Anyone, Even Difficult People.

In it, she describes nine archetypes of colleagues who can be hard to work with, and she offers

strategies for working with them.

One of those types is the pessimist.

Nothing is ever going to work for this person.

This can be a little frustrating if you are trying to collaborate with a pessimist. Gallow quotes a complaint

about a pessimistic colleague. What he was doing, the person explained, felt like continually

putting up roadblocks without providing a detour sign. I love that analogy because literal roadblocks are sometimes necessary.

Maybe there's construction work underway, a flooded passage, or an accident that needs to be

cleared.

But roadblocks without posted detours can be frustrating and can feel unfair.

What am I supposed to do if signs proclaim this road

is closed, but you don't tell me how to get to my destination? Perhaps your map app can figure it out.

But if you weren't running your map app, signage is helpful and makes it feel like whoever

blocked the road actually cares if you get where you are going.

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