In addition to coaching the person directly involved and/or their manager, it is possible to strengthen the skills of the rest of the team by sharing communication and negotiation techniques for dealing with difficult people. This is particularly useful when there are significant disparities within the team, where some members “suffer” more from the difficult person's behaviour while others have already developed useful strategies for managing the situation and are less affected.

By modelling functional behaviours within the team, the whole team can grow.

A special case in which this approach does NOT work is when there are two difficult people in the team who have a personal conflict. In this case, involving everyone else could be seen as a waste of time or an injustice (‘if the problem is between THEM, why should WE be involved?’). In this case, it may be more appropriate to address the issue with the individuals concerned individually or through mediation.