How to Work with (Almost) Anyone

Michael Bungay Stanier's "How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships" is a game-changing resource for anyone looking to cultivate resilient and vital work relationships. With a practical and insightful framework at its core, this book provides the essential tools you need to navigate challenging conversations and foster safe connections. What sets this book apart is the free toolbox that accompanies it, offering valuable resources to enhance your journey. From practical conversation starters to actionable strategies, this framework is a must-have companion for creating and maintaining vital and safe relationships in the workplace. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, "How to Work with (Almost) Anyone" is a must-have addition to your personal development library. Get ready to transform your work relationships, foster a collaborative environment, and achieve professional success.

I’ve had my share of bad working relationships. It’s the truly awful ones you remember. -The VP who didn’t acknowledge anyone in the hallways -The “been-there-forever” person I got stuck working with who seemed to hate me ("No, thanks. I DON'T want your job despite what you think.") -The political people who were always jockeying for positions (at the cost of others) -The short-tempered clients who made my work life rather depressing It wasn't all bad! I had excellent relationships with many managers and colleagues. This is the book I wish I’d had back then because there are always going to be difficult people to deal with. The framework that the author provides is super helpful. Now that I freelance, these questions are ones that can help me as I begin new working relationships. I’ll be using this and keeping it on my desk to refer to often. Great book.

I am a huge fan of MBS. I've read The Coaching Habit and How to Begin and got so much out of both of them. I bought How to Work With Almost Anyone because, even though I am a solo business owner, I do have employees and contractors and I knew I would find something useful in the book. The good news is I did. It got me thinking a lot about the working relationships I have (and had) in my almost 45 years of adult life. I appreciated all the free resources the book offers at bestpossiblerelationships.com, especially the demonstration video of the Keystone Conversation. I watched it with awe and not a small amount of envy as I thought, "no boss I've ever had would even consider a conversation with me like this!" And alas, that is the rub, for me, about this book. Admittedly this is my perspective but when I think back on all the employers I ever had, with the exception of perhaps one, I am hard pressed to imagine having the Keystone Conversation with any of them, let alone even asking for one. Chalk it up to life, but the array of emotionally challenged, narcissistic, drug-addicted, ladder climbing, self-absorbed, hostile, predatory, and downright stupid employers I've had, made my experience of reading HTWW(a)A feel like a naive pipe-dream at best and, at worst, something short of - "Yeah, right! Not going to happen in the corporate world that I was a part of, I guarantee it!" As an employer now, with a small team, and several contractors, I can see how having a Keystone Conversation could be valuable, provided it happens from the start. There was something else that bothered me about this book. It assumes one has a lot of time to do all the deep work and exercises. I know this is part of MBS style, and it's worked for me in other realms, but for this book it bordered on self-help psychology that made me feel like, "Hey I'm looking to you for the answers here!" There are some good "actionable, tactical, strategies," to quote Brene Brown's quote, but I can't really see how they would work with an employee/employer who is a real d**k from the get-go! If you are lucky enough to work with great people, this book could be for you. But if that was not the hand you got dealt, not sure you will find what you are looking for here. To leave on a positive note, I do very much appreciate (and am somewhat in awe of) the amount of books MBS reads and recommends at the end of the book, with short descriptions of their value. Also, there are a lot of other tidbits of wisdom that I do find myself thinking about. (e.g., The Curse of Competence and TERA) The book is like a cake with several really good ingredients but for some reason just didn't hold well together coming out of the oven.

Everyone I know finds some people easy to work with and others a challenge. Whether it’s a peer, boss, or direct report, less-than-ideal relationships cause irritation, inefficiency, and occasional ire. The core idea of the book is that we can—and should—open direct and ongoing conversations with work partners about the dynamics of our relationship. Author Michael Bungay Steiner offers five questions to use as the roadmap for this “Keystone Conversation,” and the idea is that both parties would reflect on those questions and then share their answers. It’s a quick read that offers concrete steps, examples of the actual words you might use, and piles of opportunity for reflection. MBS wraps the content in a light-hearted positive mindset. Most important, I think “unweirding” these conversations is a truly worthy goal.

“Coaching Habit” and “The Advice Trap” were much better, more practical and practice changing. I highly recommend them over this one

Working relationships can make or break your lived experience at work. Having tools that allow us to build relationships that can sustain the stresses and strains of personal differences, work challenges, and missteps with one another is something we all need. How to Work with (Almost) Anyone provides a simple, actionable framework that allows you to build those types of relationships. If we take the time to build resilient relationships, when things get bumpy (and they always do), each party can quickly understand why and has the trust in one another to work things through. Great work relationships make our work more meaningful and a ton more fun and it's always surprising how little time we put into building them. Through HtWW(A)A, we now have the tools to be incredibly intentional in this process - thank you, Michael. I highly recommend and am already using this in my own coaching practice.

We all want to be happy at work right? You're more likely to be happy if you're getting on with people. This is a quick and simple guide to how you can develop, maintain, repair and even end business relationships well. The book is a quick and easy read with templates, sample questions and lots of further resources available. MBS revits his TERA framework for optimising psychological safety that we first read about in The Coaching Habit and puts it into context for this situation. I found that part most useful.

Como sempre Michael usa sua excelente didática para nos ensinar como fazer a teoria se aplicar a prática. Livro muito útil para líderes e para qualquer profissional que queira desenvolver seus relacionamentos estratégicos. Não deixem as relações ao acaso!

Makes difficult concepts and actions feel easy and feasible

Provide a clear and useful framework and guidance on how to apply it in practice to pursue good and efficient relationships at work.

MBS's latest book provides a refreshing, thoughtful approach to a topic that lies at the heart of our personal and professional lives—relationships. This book achieves something remarkable: it distills myriad complex concepts into actionable sensibilities, doing so without sacrificing any nuance or depth. It is evident that a great deal of care, consideration, and intellectual rigour has been invested into this work, resulting in a book that is as insightful as it is practical. As an introverted rogue scholar, this book has helped me to see the many ways in which I can improve the relationships I have with those I work with. And not in some mechanistic way—it’s warm, wholesome and abundant. I find myself enthusiastic to work with people once more! How unbecoming. If you are wise enough to suspect that there are relationships in your world that could do with some wholesome invigoration—read this book. It is a gift to you, and all who know you.