Why, When And How To Manage Gossip
Gossip is defined as casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true.
Gossip exists in all walks of life workplace included.
If you work in an environment where employees freely communicate and socialize, it's easy to learn intimate details about your co-workers' personal and work life. If you're not careful, you could find yourself caught up in workplace gossip. The effects of workplace gossip are mostly negative, especially for the person who is the subject of the gossip.
People gossip for a variety of reasons but one of the main ones is boredom where lose talk is indulged in about the company, their coworkers, and their managers and a partial truth is turned into a whole speculative truth. Speculation can be about the company's future, whether coworkers will get fired, and what the boss or other employees are doing in their personal lives outside of work.
Gossip destroys trust, lowers morale and productivity. Employee turnovers are higher in companies that don’t curtail this behaviour and productivity is lower. Not only is gossip a waste of company time but is also a colossal waste of energy.
Management Consultant and Executive Coach JP Singh believes that, “Success, internal and external, is achieved through focus and ‘sthirta’. Gossip fritters away vital energy at different level-physical, emotional, intellectual (gross and subtle), alongwith possibilities of damaging trust, credibility, and relationships.”
Singh strongly prescribes the practice of the 3C formula of Concentration, Consistency, and Co-operation, to keep all energies harmonised towards success at all levels.
Gossip is essentially a form of negative communication.
Physician, cardiologist, spiritual writer and motivational speaker, Dr. KK Aggarwal has an interesting take on gossip from that angle.
“There are two types of communications: violent and non-violent. Violent communication is based on judgment and non-violent communication is based on opinion. Quote, unquote is always a non-violent communication. Being non-judgmental is non-violent communication. In my opinion, gossip is violent communication. This includes talking about somebody in his or her absence, without verifying the facts,” he says.
He believes that this Chinese Whisper phenomenon shows how gossiping can be dangerous. In Chinese whisper, there are many people and one message must be passed on to many people through one another.
“The final message comes to the person who started but it may not always be the same message that was conveyed in the beginning. Gossip is always violent and distorted because one cannot confirm the facts or the message through anybody. Therefore, at work and home, gossiping is only a waste of energy and a form of violent communication. It causes relational disharmony and job dissatisfaction. It also creates negativity in the minds of people and generates negative stress which can lead to an increase in the adrenaline and noradrenaline levels. This becomes a cause for cynical behavior,” stresses Dr. Aggarwal.
From a medical standpoint, he shared that there are three new stress factors for lifestyle disorders and precipitation of heart attacks, including; hostility, cynical behavior, and anger.
“Therefore, anything which is gossip, leads to all of the above. Whenever one speaks of gossip, the person against whom one is gossiping (because it is not based on facts) their first reaction will be anger. Anger can be anger in or anger out. And if the person repeatedly indulges in anger in, it will lead to despondency and depression. If it is anger out, it will be aggressive behavior, which can be injurious to health, and can also lead to hitting somebody, murder, suicide, or homicide,” depending on the gravity of the content.
In the workplace, it is essential for the Managers to not allow employees to indulge in gossip at all.
Managers and Gossiping Employees
Many managers turn a blind eye to employee gossip (or worse, participate in it). This results in low employee morale.
When the morale is low and gossip is made, the employees distrust each other and don’t share anything with their manager—it is solely the manager's fault. Employees emulate managements styles, hence the manager in this event needs to introspect and step up to his role.
When to Act on Gossip
Expect a certain amount of gossip; people want to know what is going on in their workplace, and they like to discuss work issues. The key is to know when the gossip is out-of-hand.
Action needs to be taken when the gossip is:
If you find yourself having to address gossip frequently, you may want to examine your workplace to understand the consistent themes in the gossip.
There is a great possibility that the employees don’t trust you and are afraid to ask about important topics.
When employees don't trust their manager or feel that they lack information, they make up information to fill in the blanks. That information is often false, but people may believe it and make decisions based on that information. Or they speculate which can also damage decision making.
Many may start looking for new jobs and leave, when in reality, their jobs were not under threat. Turn over can be very expensive.
If left unaddressed gossip tends to become a negative aspect of your work culture. So, don’t let negative gossip go unaddressed.
Gossiping can also lead to bullying situations at work. Frequently, in a toxic gossip culture, there is a small group of employees who cause the problems. They often have power and bully other employees and often can bully the boss.
How to Manage Gossip
You can manage gossip exactly as you would manage any other negative behavior from an employee in your workplace. Use a coaching approach, when possible, to help the employee improve his or her behavior. Gossip is often a life-long habit and breaking it can take a great deal of effort.
Gossip management starts with a serious talk between the employee and the manager or supervisor. If the discussion of the negative impacts of the employee’s gossip has no effect on subsequent behavior, begin the process of progressive discipline with a verbal warning, then a formal written verbal warning for the employee’s personnel file.
You should absolutely fire an employee who continues gossiping after participating in coaching. One toxic person can drive your good employees out, especially if they see that the behavior is going unaddressed.
If you assertively deal with gossip, you will create a work culture and environment that does not support gossip. You need to answer your employees' questions directly and honestly to avoid work-related gossip.
If the gossip is personal, you must go to the employees in question and make it clear that their coworkers are not an appropriate topic.
The only way to reduce the negative effects of workplace gossip is to help silence it.
