How to handle overly aggressive people at work

How to handle overly aggressive people at workCompetition at work isnt the worst thing in the worldan atmosphere where everyone strives for success can encourage personal and professional growth and make a company thrive. But when the motivation to excel gets out of hand, people can go from competitive to aggressive and alienate coworkers who are just trying to come in, do a good job, and get along with everyone. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) If you have a particularly aggressive or competitive coworker, here are a few strategies for neutralizing their intensity.Stand up for yourself.If your competitive coworker does something particularly egregiouslike taking sole credit for a group effort or stealing choice projects out from under youconsider going to your boss or to HR and explaining the situation. You dont want to do this often, or too early, or with weak evidence. But if the situation has escalated such that your reputation and op portunities are taking a hit? Make sure you cover your own backin a calm and professional manner, of course.Build and keep relationships.Sometimes, aggressive coworkers arent content simply to talk over you in meetings and undercut you in professional settingtheyll try to ice you out socially, as well. Your job is to rise above and be the best colleague and officemate you can be. Cultivate real relationships among your colleagues. Gain respect as a well-regarded and valuable kollektiv player. Rise above negativity. Help people out. Deliver and be true to your word. Whatever you do, dont isolate yourself because youre avoiding this one personthats what he or she wants.Stay focused on doing your job well.Keep your eyes on your own work and making it as stellar as possible. Dont succumb to playing the competition gameyoull never win against a particularly competitive colleague, and there is no battle anyway.Compete only against yourselfdo great work that people can depend on and aim to continually improve.Double check your read of the situation.If youre always getting crazy toxic competition vibes from this person, make sure that maybe you havent misread or misunderstood the situation. If reaching out to this coworker for a private one-on-one over a cup of coffee is an option, give it a shot. Talk about how you dont want to compete or diminish their accomplishments, and let them know youre not trying to one-up them. Maybe its all a misunderstanding. Before you make an enemy of a coworkereven in your headmake sure theyre truly adversarial and not just awkward.Take a look around.Maybe youve entered a culture of aggression. Is it really just that one person whos making you feel uneasy, or is your work atmosphere highly competitive as a whole? If you assess the situation and notice that the majority of your coworkers are just as cutthroat, then the problem might be the job. If you can accept and absprache with it, great. If not, you might want to consider working for a different company where theres more of a collaborative culture.