Backstabbers are everywhere, if you're working in any company or if you're a student, especially if you're pursuing higher studies like doctorates or masters, you may encounter backstabbers, studies suggest that there is a backstabber out of thirty people in any organization. They're the snakes in suits, very bright and over-friendly, appearing helpful to everyone, but their inner motive is just to profit their selves as they lack any talent, they try to know other people's weakness and use this as their strength.
1. Do not believe them.
The first weapon they use is to spread lies and rumors; they carry the grapevine to you, they may tell you that someone in the office does not like you, the boss is not happy with you or someone was talking negative things about you the other day when you were not there, someone is turning the boss against you. Perhaps they tell the same thing to another person about you. The best way to handle this is to establish a good relationship with everybody in the office, be friendly with everybody and intentionally let them know you better. Whenever they tell you that a guy or girl is talking negative things about you, then just be straight and ask that person rather than believing in grapevine.
2. Keep everything noted!
Whatever they tell you or do to you, keep everything noted with date and events, it will help you in the future if they set any trap for you, and unfortunately, you fall into their trap, suppose you're doing a project together. They tell you to do something, keep it noted, even if the boss is a backstabber or using you to reach his/her goal, tells you to do things that you think is inappropriate. Then email them back that you understand their request, but keep those emails, text messages, social media chats; this may be helpful to you in case they blame you if something goes wrong.
3. Do not blame them!
Blaming or confronting backstabbers makes them aggressive, and they can harm you, so be friendly with them. Ask them things in a tone like you're asking their suggestions, tell them their feedback is critical for you.
4. Be more interactive with your boss and team members.
Once I and two of my teammates were given a project to complete within six months. One of the two was a backstabber; I do not like licking boots, and the other person also had a similar nature. But after the project was assigned, the third one among us started to be more interactive with the boss, began to visit the boss, asking him things about the project and things which were not even 1% related to that particular topic, in reality, that person was not doing anything in the project, also stopped talking to two of us. It was extraordinary that the person started to spend more time in the boss's room, later we found that it was all planned, that person was creating a picture in the boss's mind that two of us are not doing anything or helping at all and that person was doing everything. To counter this, one beautiful day two of us went to the boss's room and talked about the project, we could feel the anger in his tone, so we cleverly asked him to set a meeting with three of us, he agreed. Then we put our work in front of him. The third person had nothing much to say about the things that people contributed to the project. Please remember not to blame or go straight and tell bad things about others; this creates a negative image of yours in other people's minds. People believe the things which appear in front of them, if you're not very interactive, there is no way your boss can ever get to know about your hard work and contribution. It does not boot licking but being interactive and showing interest.
5. Maintain eye contact.
Eyes are very expressive; they reflect our inner thoughts, strength, and weakness. When you talk to the backstabber, maintain eye contact, do not hunch over, do not blink after every 3 seconds. These are an indication of weakness, a gesture of surrender. When they understand that you are easy prey, they'll try to catch you, do things to make you feel that only they are your well-wisher, and make you their slave; when the right time will come, they'll use you blame you and sacrifice you for achieving their goal.
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