The Drama Nobody Trains You For

Most jobs come with a position description, a set of KPIs, and maybe even a laminated flowchart showing who reports to whom. What they don’t prepare you for, however, is the strange undercurrent of emotions, assumptions, and habits that show up in the office every day. Things like the passive-aggressive email, the meeting where one person dominates and another never speaks, and the team member who resists every change, no matter how small. 

It’s easy to label this as “office drama” and move on. But beneath the surface, there’s usually something more interesting going on. 

Everyone Thinks They’re Being Reasonable

One of the biggest sources of workplace friction is that almost everyone believes they’re acting logically. When someone pushes back on feedback, interrupts colleagues, or avoids responsibility, it rarely feels irrational to them. In their mind, their behaviour makes perfect sense.

This is where misunderstandings start to stack up. People assume bad intent when it’s often a clash of values, stress responses, or communication styles. Without a shared language to talk about behaviour, teams end up reacting instead of understanding. 

Meetings Are More Than Agendas

Meetings are a perfect example of how human behaviour can derail even the best plans. You can have a tight agenda and still walk out wondering what just happened. Someone shuts down after being challenged, or another person keeps circling back to the same point. Decisions stall, even when everyone agrees on paper. 

What’s happening here isn’t usually down to a lack of preparation. It’s group dynamics at play. Power, confidence, fear of looking foolish, or past experiences all shape how people show up in these moments. And, once you start paying attention to those patterns, meetings suddenly make a lot more sense. 

Small Moments & Big Signals

A lot of workplace behaviour comes from moments so small they’re easy to overlook. Who gets interrupted and who doesn’t? Whose ideas are acknowledged? And whose are cleverly rephrased by someone else? Even where people sit in a room can send subtle signals about status and influence.

These moments add up over time and start guiding how people participate, speak up, or simply withdraw altogether. When leaders notice and adjust these small dynamics, it can change the tone of an entire team without needing any formal intervention. 

Why Change Feels Personal

Change initiatives often fail not because they’re poorly designed, but because they ignore how people experience uncertainty. A new system, company restructure, or change of leadership can trigger everything from anxiety to quiet resentment, even when the change is objectively positive. 

People aren’t resisting the idea of change itself, though. They’re reacting to what it represents: loss of control, fear of incompetence, or disruption to identity. Understanding this human side of change is central to organisational behaviour and psychology, which looks beyond surface-level actions and into the motivations of driving them.

The Unspoken Rules That Matter the Most 

Every workplace has unwritten rules. Who you challenge, when it’s safe to speak up, and whether actually leaving on time is quietly judged. These norms define behaviour far more than formal policies, but they’re rarely discussed openly.

New employees often struggle not because they lack skills, but because they haven’t cracked those hidden codes yet. When leaders ignore them, they miss opportunities to build trust and clarity, but when they acknowledge them, teams usually relax and perform better as a result. 

Emotional Intelligence Isn’t “Fluffy”

There’s still a misconception that understanding emotions at work is “soft” or optional. In reality, emotional awareness is one of the most practical tools a leader or a team member can develop, as it helps with conflict resolution, decision making, and even productivity.

Recognising when someone is disengaged, overwhelmed, or defensive allows for better conversations and smarter responses. It also reduces the tendency to personalise behaviour that isn’t actually about you. 

Better Work Starts with Better Insight

Workplaces don’t need to be perfectly harmonious to function well. Disagreement and diversity of thought are healthy, after all. The real issues arise when behaviour goes unexplored, and patterns repeat without reflection. 

By paying attention to how people think, interact, and react under pressure, teams can move past surface-level fixes and address what’s really going on. It’s not a case of analysing every conversation, but building awareness and curiosity instead of defaulting to blame. 

When organisations take this approach, performance improves almost as a side effect. People feel understood, communication sharpens, and the everyday drama loses its grip. Not because everyone suddenly agrees, but because they finally understand each other a little better.