Conversation is the heartbeat of every relationship, even in the workplace. If you want to continue to strengthen and deepen your relationships and grow in your career, you will need to be engaging in conversations regularly with your co-workers and superiors. Unfortunately, you can’t rule out the possibility of having difficult conversations that could take you off balance.

After a difficult encounter with your boss or manager, is there a way to bounce back? Of course, yes! So sit back, relax and read this blog post to the very end as we will be sharing with you some tips on how you can handle the situation.

How to Bounce Back After a Tough Interaction with your Manager

Take a DEEP Breath: After a bad encounter with your boss, it is advisable to calm your nerves. The best way to do that is through deep breathing. Deep breathing makes your body calmer and provides relaxation to your mind. Take a deep breath when you are angry, tense, or scared. Your muscles get tighter during such situations and breathing constricts. Thus, deep breathing provides relief.

Avoid Immediate Contact With Your Boss: Unless necessary, do not reconnect with your boss yet. Both of you need time to cool off. Any message you send or statement you make could get corrupted by emotions. Even if you want to apologize you may want to wait a bit. Your expression of regret, sincere as it might be, could fall on seething ears.

Don’t Lash Out: In your anger, you might feel like lashing out. Maybe by blasting a scorching email to your boss. Or posting about the clash on social media. Do yourself a favor and restrain yourself. You’ve already lost your cool once. Compounding it rashly could be the final straw. You need to think about your next moves. So complete any urgent work. Or leave the premises after telling people you’ll be out for a while. No need to discuss what happened yet. That might just wind you up again.

Assess The Damage: A verbal encounter with your boss is serious. You could be fired for cause due to insubordination. That should give you a pause. Some questions to consider when gauging the damage:

Did you or your boss say anything that has ruined your working relationship?

Were any threats made by either party?

Did you resign, or were you fired, while arguing?

Consider Your Options: Given what’s transpired you’ll have to draw some quick conclusions. Like do you want to continue working there? Or is the situation now intolerable? Your boss will review their alternatives too. They must decide whether to discipline, dismiss or reconcile with you. Keep in mind it’s not uncommon to quit or get fired during a dispute. If that’s what has happened you might still have a chance to withdraw your resignation or ask for your job back.

Apologize: Would you like to stay employed there? Then go apologize to your boss. Not half-heartedly. Sincerely with conviction in your voice and body language. You may have to swallow your pride. See how your boss responds. If they’re willing to forgive and move on, consider yourself fortunate. There’ll be chances later to address the underlying issues calmly. If your boss isn’t moved by your contrition, ramp it up. Mention that you’ve been dealing with outside stresses of a personal nature, but you realize they need to be managed better.

Learn From The Experience: Reflect on what transpired. How can you disagree with them next time without so much conflict? Controlling your reactions and communicating with composure are needed for steady employment. Don’t let future issues build to volcanic proportions.

Having a difficult conversation with your boss or employee is extremely daunting. No one likes being disciplined, but difficult conversations when delivered in the right way can provide a lot of positives.