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Gossip: What Leaders Must Do To Stop It

Post written by

Karin Naslund

CEO of Naslund Consulting Group Inc., assisting nonprofit organizations to win at their mission.

Shutterstock defines gossip as "idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others." Gossipers share unverified information with others who are neither part of the problem nor part of the solution. Furthermore, mean-spirited gossip is detrimental to the person or organization that is the topic of conversation. Viewed as a form of workplace harassment, organizations have an obligation to address it.  

Anyone who has been part of the rumor mill at work identifies with its impact on a work team. Loss of productivity and wasted time, along with decreased morale and motivation, increase staff turnover and an overall culture of negativity.  

Poor communication within an organization often results in gossip and conflict. Negative talk happens when:

1. The exchange of information from leadership to management and onto front-line workers is insufficient and not managed well.

2. Staff lacks skill and a sense of safety to tackle their concerns directly.  

It is up to the company’s leaders to set the path for open, honest and direct dialogue since they influence the entire organization through their values, actions and priorities.

For example, some time ago I mediated a dispute between three directors that resulted in minimal face-to-face communication (even though they had offices side by side). Instead, they communicated by email, rarely speaking to one another while working independently. In turn, the office staff lacked vitality, energy and team spirit. Employees came to work, sat at their desks, ate their lunches and went home with little to no interaction. The majority of communication happened by email, which opened the door to misunderstandings and onto gossip and conflict that was never discussed through open, honest dialogue. Case in point, the CEO was addressing five harassment claims while I was there. The leaders established the culture of communication through their behavior.  

An organization without the practice of transparency and clear communication guidelines will struggle internally.  

Practise transparency.

Employees expect their supervisors to communicate frequently and honestly about what is going on within the organization. When they don't share relevant information, staff is left to fill in the blanks to make sense of what is going on. Add insufficient exchange of information and an employee’s needs to belong, be valued and be important, and you have the formula for gossip.  

In contrast to years gone by, leaders can no longer operate in isolation and expect staff to comply without question. With the onset of accessibility to information through technology, employees insist on being kept informed. Great leaders respond to questions quickly and give the opportunity for staff to express their fears and concerns without judgment or defensiveness. They work hard at building a strong team of informed staff who are encouraged to contribute. They are role models and aren’t afraid of sharing information, even though it might result in an unfavorable response.  

What should you do?

1. Work with your board to define transparency and add it to your corporate values. Facilitate the conversation on its importance, definition and what it means regarding decision-making and internal and external communication.

2. Develop a clear and concise statement on how it is honored in the organization, and communicate this to your team.

3. Practise it consistently. You cannot maintain trust if you selectively apply it.

4. Be accountable.

Teach staff communication skills and help them feel safe.

Workplaces assume employees have sufficient communication skills because they went to school and were taught. However, this is often not so. Most people struggle with verbal and written communication, and when you add ethnic diversity, different dialects and meaning of words, the potential for misunderstanding multiplies. Communication basics, such as active listening and being assertive, should be mandatory training for all staff, with a focus on the ongoing practice of skills; knowing what “I” language means is much easier actually than using it.  

Secondly, staff needs to feel safe in going directly to the source of their concern, whether that be a supervisor, colleague or client. Experience and beliefs around disagreements strongly influence our response. Early on, we observed and were part of challenging conversations. There may have been yelling, storming out, shutting down, using positional power, pretending it’s okay, etc. None of these strategies demonstrate excellent communication skills or the possibility of resolution. Instead, they escalate our fear of having difficult conversations. By setting communication guidelines (i.e., ground rules) for conversations, employees know what behavior to expect when they sit down to discuss a difference of opinion with a coworker.  

What should you do?

Establish organization-wide communication guidelines that identify proper behavior before, during and after conversations.  

1. Where possible, define and/or give examples of what it looks like. For example, respect is demonstrated by listening carefully without interrupting, being attentive by focusing on the person, leaning forward and using facial gestures that show interest. Disrespect might include interruption, rolling eyes, turning away from the person, etc.  

2. The confidentiality of the conversation must be agreed upon.

3. Staff needs to be assured that there will be no repercussions or retaliation following the dialogue, whether it is with a colleague or supervisor.  

4. Staff who disregard communication guidelines must be dealt with through corrective action if you expect to change their behavior.

Stay tuned for my next article on gossip, conflict and bullying in the workplace, where I'll discuss more about how to teach skills and build safety to stop workplace gossip.

Karin Naslund Karin Naslund Forbes Councils

