the escalating argument problem
Written communication lacks the body language of verbal communication, and things that might be acceptable to say face to face can look harsh in writing. In social emails body language is substituted by smileys and this goes some way to addressing the problem, you old bugger ;-)
Smileys haven’t become the accepted norm for business email though, so you need to operate without this safety net.
People are more comfortable escalating an argument in writing than they would be person to person, but its counter productive and best avoided. There are three great ways to avoid increasingly angry exchanges;
1. Don’t reply right away, wait a while. If you write a response, save it and re-read the next day before sending
2. Don’t reply by email at all, phone the person or go and speak to them.
3. If you must reply, make sure you stay calm and don’t add disturbance to troubled waters.
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