I am not someone who avoids conflict at all costs, but I am also not someone who initiates and embraces it. I especially try to preserve relationships and human connections–and, this includes work relationships. However, I’ve learned that sometimes, bridges have to be burned, or those bridges get burned and we have to adjust and learn to live with the consequences after.
I do believe that there is a “professional” way to burn bridges and terminate business relationships–whether with a company or an individual. Just because a relationship is terminated, this doesn’t give us carte blanch for bad behavior. I think it is important that we take the high road and not bad-mouth, spread rumors, or continue holding a grudge. Letting things go means letting things go. Creating a great deal of negative talk about someone or a company we’ve ceased being involved with tends to bring us down and negatively affect our reputation too. Things can get really messy when the other party continues to spread negativity about us–we really need to find a way to make a clean separation and take the high road in order to keep our reputation from getting tainted by the association.
Remember that old cliché that there are “two sides to every story?” We may feel completely justified and vindicated in our version of why a business relationship has gone sour–but the other side may feel the same way. If you feel you have done absolutely everything you needed to do in order to try to make things right–making a clean, calm cut, and moving on is the most professional way to go about things. Refrain from getting sucked back in to negative drama in a business relationship once you have made that termination. This doesn’t mean that a business relationship or connection can’t be repaired down the line (all the more reason to take the high road and be impeccably professional), but it is important to distance yourself from things in order to begin anew.
See Also: Working With Challenging Customers and Clients