Often, we label people who are not team players “difficult.” Sometimes it’s definitely warranted-if they’re not fulfilling their job descriptions and/or pushing off their responsibilities to others. 

But how often are we considering whether or not the problem isn’t the “difficult” person, but in our own requests?

“Just a quick change” is, oftentimes, NOT a quick change, otherwise you would have made the change yourself. Are you making unreasonable requests of your team?

If someone enforces their own boundaries and pushes back and tells you they don’t have time, or are simply unwilling to accommodate your request, are YOU taking the time to understand why that request is not being fulfilled? Have you considered the extra hours or days or weeks worth of work you might be asking someone else to do? Have you considered that even though it might seem as if they’re not accommodating you, that by relentlessly pushing them to bend to your will YOU are the one who is not accommodating?