Many people avoid the “eyeball to eyeball” connection due to fear of the discussion turning into confrontation or being somehow put down, at a loss for words, people turning the situation around to be about you, etc.
The worst thing to do is just talk or email about the other person with others rather than confronting them with the issue(s) you might have for what they did or said. Typically that is the issue, isn’t it?
If you are going to address the topic, email is the absolute worst way go, unless you want to end up trading throwing grenades over the wall. The problem with email is that it is just as easy to be “misunderstood” as it is to achieve understanding. What is missing is your voice and the “tone” that goes with the words that are on paper or in the email.
Today, with all the video teleconferencing tools available, there is no reason to have the excuse that we can’t find time to get together. Likely, it would still be better to be in person with whoever it is that gored you earlier in the day or week.
