Try not to take someone’s conflicting opinion as a negative assessment of you, either as a person or as a co-worker. It’s very natural for co-workers to have differing feelings and thoughts about projects. Try to be open to constructive criticism, and bear in mind that turning a conflict into a learning situation may greatly benefit your career.
Latching on to grudges isn’t likely to get you very far during a workplace conflict, and you’re not going to be right about everything. Going in with an all-or-nothing mentality is prone to increasing the tension and making your co-worker more susceptible to outright disagreeing with you. Look for common ground, and work towards an outcome that both parties are satisfied with.
If the level of communication between the parties is at an all time low, having a mediator step in that both parties respect could be a viable option. In a formal or informal setting, a mediator could ensure that either side has their say and cool things down when the conversation gets heated
Conflict is always bound to occur over something, sometimes it actually is a good thing (in the right setting) as it allows for co-workers to feed off each other competitively and come up with new ideas by debating. But without a professional and business like approach, productivity is liable to going out the window. Keeping it civil and respectable reduces the possibility of flaring emotions and egos.
