Why do they do it and how best to deal with them...Just that really.
I had a catch up meeting with my line manager last week and to my surprise one person and their direct report apparently mentioned to my manager that I had been 'blunt' in a meeting, 'almost rude' and could be inapproachable.
Never had this feedback in previous roles.
No clear example of what I was supposed to have said either so it was difficult for me to respond.
These 2 people are staff members that I have always bent over backwards to praise and support in their own projects and have always been friendly/polite to as I do with everyone else.
This is a really chaotic organisation with a lot a lot of internal politics, where everything was often done at the last minute (and often badly because of it) so I have had to put in place new processes to improve delivery and have a cohesive result that a couple people are just trying to bypass/refuse to engage with. Nobody had been in my post for a while before me and there has been a high turnover in this role. I had to start everything again from scratch and have always delivered.
I am however expecting people to respect the function I perform and not waste my time by leaving things at the last minute and I have had to stand my ground on this. I suspect people who called me 'unapproachable' are the ones who have been refusing to engage with new processes because they just can't be bothered...
I am job hunting because I now know this long standing culture will never change but I must say that I was shocked that these particular two people could be so two-face.
I personally would always do the courtesy to address any issue I might have with someone face to face first, especially if that person had always been supportive of me...but that's just me.
Anyway at least I now know not to trust these 2 in any way.