7 Signs Your Co-workers Are Intimidated By You

This article will focus on 7 signs that point to your coworkers feeling intimidated by you. The article will also explain what the possible reasons could be for this feeling.

7 Signs Your Coworkers Are Intimidated By You!

Here are 7 signs your coworkers are intimidated by you:

• No Eye Contact
• Avoid Being On Your Team
• Don’t Have Any Original Ideas
• Don’t Spend Their Free Time With You
• No Office Talk In Front You
• Hide Things
• Rigid Body Posture

Let us take a look at each of these in detail!

No Eye Contact

This is one of the signs that your coworkers may be intimidated by you. They will avoid making eye contact not only because they fear you or you make them uncomfortable but because they do not want you to sense that they feel this way. They may already be uncomfortable by the relationship they have with you at the office because of how you treat them or view their work and they do not want to further complicate things. 

It is important you look out for this sign so as to determine whether or not there is a problem. Most of the time, you will notice they will work while talking to you so they have somewhere else to look. Also, they might fidget over things and focus on them rather than look at you in the eyes. They may even act as if they are in a hurry searching for something in order to give you the impression that they do not have time to give you and that you need to convey the message and let them be in peace!

Avoid Being On Your Team

The last thing you want is to be on the team of the person you feel intimidated by. Keep an eye out for coworkers who use all types of excuses to avoid being on your team. They do not want to end up spending more time with you or having to have conversations because that makes them anxious. It is possible they are scared of being ‘wrong’ again or disappointing you when it comes to providing the best results. They may be intimidated by the way you question them or how you reach a conclusion.

Hence, this is one of the signs that someone at your workplace is intimidated by you!

Don’t Have Any Original Ideas

People at the workplace who are intimidated by you will never share their own ideas with you. In fact, they will keep nodding their heads with whatever you say just to make sure things remain smooth and they do not have to go under all that scrutiny from you over a tentative idea they suggested. This is a dangerous sign that your coworkers are intimidated by you because not only does it affect them but the quality of work. If ideas come from only one person and no one challenges those ideas then it means quality work may not be coming in anytime soon!

Don’t Spend Their Free Time With You

Your coworkers – if intimidated by you – will do everything to avoid you even in break time. They will come up with excuses that they need to go out to meet a friend or give you the silent treatment when you ask if they have time to have lunch together. They may not save a seat for you at the lunch table in the cafeteria or say someone else is going to sit there.

Whatever the reason they give, the main aim is to avoid you so they don’t have to have any more conversations with you!

No Office Talk In Front Of You

Yes, have you ever noticed how conversations between others end abruptly as soon as you walk into the room. It’s like they were talking about you behind your back or discussing an issue they certainly do not want you to know about. This is another sign your coworkers are intimidated by you and do not feel comfortable including you in their discussions!

Hide Things

You will start to realize that there are a lot of things going on in the office that everyone but you knows about! From people’s birthdays to their dating lives, you will be left out on all the gossip and fun talk particularly because no one wants you around or they feel too awkward having such discussions with you!

Rigid Body Posture

Body language tells you a lot about how people feel towards you. If your coworkers are intimidated by you then they will have a rigid and uncomfortable body language around you. They will not move much, you will notice they seem uncomfortable or rigid and unrelaxed. This points to how they feel about you; they are intimidated by your presence and their body posture reflects it very well!

Why Are Your Coworkers Intimidated By You?

In this section, we will look at a few reasons why your coworkers may be intimidated by you!

Perceive You As A Threat

It is possible that the person who avoids you actually perceives you as a threat that they want to avoid!They may consider you a threat due to a number of reasons such as your skills, educational qualification, interpersonal skills, physique or looks or even your experience in your career life. Nonetheless, they will try their best to make you feel unwanted so that you no longer possess the potential to ‘harm’ them in any way.

It is not that they do not like you but they are fearful that you may take away opportunities from their hands. For example, a fellow coworker may be afraid that their boss offers you the promotion that they have been working for so hard. Hence, to push you off track and possibly hamper your efforts and affect your work, they will start avoiding you or giving you the silent treatment. Their aim is to make you stay away from them. It is possible they want you gone entirely from the scene!

A fellow coworker may be intimidated by you because they think you might perform better than they do and get the credit. So before that happens they will try and make you feel unwanted!

Do Not Want To Deal With You

A person may be afraid of you! They fear you will catch on to the loopholes in their stories or their work. Hence they seem to be intimidated by you and do not open up! The purpose of this is to keep you away from them. If you try to get close to them for the sake of asking questions or finding out why something went wrong, they will resort to their typical attitude of 

Staying quiet or reserved around you.

Be watchful of such people! Not only are they adopting an uncooperative attitude but they may be hiding something important which you need to expose. They might be meddling with work affairs or taking part in something illegal because of which they do not want you around!

You Have A Demeaning Attitude

One of the reasons why your coworkers may be intimidated by you is because you have a condescending attitude towards them – knowingly or unknowingly! Whatever the case is, you engage in behaviours that make them feel uncomfortable, insignificant and they begin to doubt their own capabilities. Hence they want to avoid you and prefer to stay out of your way not only when it comes to work but also in their free time!

Sometimes we have adopted attitudes that we are unaware of and only by observing the behaviours of others can we truly know if there is something wrong with your attitude. Look for signs that show your coworkers are intimidated by you. If they are then its possible something is wrong with your attitude.

Conclusion

This article provided a complete guide about your coworkers being intimidated by you at the workplace. It pointed to signs that your coworkers feel uncomfortable around you or afraid by citing signs such as avoiding eye contact or being in the same room with you. The article also explained possible reasons why they might be intimidated by you such as perceiving you as a threat, not wanting to deal with you and the fact that you have a demeaning attitude towards them and others at the workplace.

References

https://upjourney.com/signs-your-coworkers-are-intimidated-by-you