Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

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People with low emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, are generally harder to work with — they can be grumpier, more negative, and more erratic than average. But a few tactics can help you collaborate with a low-EQ person:

o Be gentle. Just because someone is unpleasant doesn’t mean you have to be too. In fact, you can become a calming agent for low-EQ people if you make an effort to act politely and kindly.

o Be explicit. Avoid social subtleties, or you will be misinterpreted. Low-EQ individuals are generally less capable of reading between the lines, and their ability to decode others’ intentions can be limited.

o Do not get offended. People with low EQ are blunt. They have low interpersonal sensitivity and find it hard to empathize with others, so they may come across as politically incorrect or overly direct. The key is not to take things personally.

Adapted from “How to Work with People Who Aren’t Good at Working with People,” by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.

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Also, you may wish to check out an anthology, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, by clicking here.