Gossip is an idle talk or rumour, 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. Gossip, as we know it today, is an enigma. It can be a tool for building or destroying reputations, or it can be the cohesive glue that holds a group together. It may even be the instrument used to banish an individual from a group entirely. It is only since the early 1990s or so that psychologists and other social scientists have turned their attention toward the study of gossip, partially because it is difficult to define exactly what it is and partially because it runs across every facet of human groupings.
Most researchers agree that the practice involves talking about other people who are not present, and that this talk is relaxed, informal, and entertaining. Typically, the topic of conversation also concerns information that we can make moral judgments about. When gossip is discussed seriously, the goal usually is to suppress its frequency in an attempt to avoid the undeniably harmful effects it can have in work groups and other social networks.
Gossips are everywhere, as reiterated above. Gossips exist among friends, among family members and among co-workers. The focus of this article is gossip among co-workers (workplace gossip).
Workplace gossip is very common nowadays and it involves discussing a private or official matter of an employee of which the participants in the gossip will not have engaged in if the person/subject of the gossip was to be present. The foregoing definition suggests that one does not need to allow himself or herself to participate in workplace gossip, else you perpetuate it and damage your own image; especially if you have leadership aspirations, or you are already in a position of leadership, any participation in gossip by you will be viewed negatively and as a blow to team cohesiveness.
It isn’t easy, in most workplaces, to completely avoid gossip. Rumours and gossips spread in dining rooms, around the drivers’ lodge, in the employees’ bus, and most times, in the offices. You can recognize when casual conversation crosses the line into gossip when you hear mention, in regard to fellow workers, of subjects such as problems with drugs or alcohol; relationship, sexual, or marriage problems; or unacceptable speech indicating such things as laziness, sexual deviance, bad breadth, or any kind of mention that will hurt the employee under discussion if he or she gets to hear.
It is notoriously easy to fall victim to office gossip, so you need to exercise some caution in what you tell your coworkers about yourself and your extracurricular activities. Your professional image is at stake, so you need to avoid talking about your husband or wife, how rich or poor you are; and other similar private issues. It’s surprisingly easy for your confidential chat to become grist for the gossip mill.
Why Gossiping Employees Gossip: when discussing coworkers in a personal way, always question yourself about your own motivation. Are you talking about them to ingratiate yourself with others? Trying to make yourself feel superior? Out to hurt someone you have a grudge against? You need to take a hard look at yourself, recognize your feelings for what they are, and determine to change them.
Gossiping employees also gossip, usually because they are aimed at undermining the credibility or likability of another person. Gossipers tend to moralize and may subtly project themselves as holier or angelic than the subject of the gossip. Gossiping helps them to get the attention they crave. As can be seen from the foregoing, employees used gossip to explain to others their versions of happenings in an organization and this have a lot of negative effects on the organization in question.
Negative Effects of Workplace Gossip:
Feelings are hurt
Not everyone takes things as sportingly as you might take them. Gossips can hurt big time, especially if it is spread in the wrong spirit. Gossip could be around anything, personal or professional life, but it could end up turning into something that can blemish the reputation of not just the person who is the subject of the gossip, but also the person spreading it as well. People might seem to be interested in gossiping around with you, but in the long run they are always going to be cautious talking around you.
Destroys trust
Ever felt betrayed about the news someone told you, which turned out to be a hoax? Would you believe that person ever again? That’s one odd example of how gossip destroys trust.
What might seem like a true story, when you hear someone narrate it, believing it without giving a thought and spreading it further could lead to destruction in your credibility as well. After all, no one believes a person who has proven to untrustworthy for spreading rumours and gossips.
Undermines credibility
If you are the gossiper in your office sooner or later you will lose the credibility once everyone gets to know that you are the breeding ground of all the ‘munafiki news’ in the office. This can in-turn put a big question mark on your credibility, not just as a staff but also as a professional. Would you like to be considered as someone whose claims hold no credibility in the office? If no, then stop gossiping.
Brings down employee morale
When there are false gossips and rumours always running around in the office, it creates a negative atmosphere. You are really not sure about what to say and when to say what to say, rather you are more concerned about your words not becoming a topic of discussion over lunch. This spread of negativity creates an impact on the morale of employees. As a result of this, people are more concerned about their words rather than performance.
Disrupts workplace
Considering workplace gossip, as it is, it is safe to say that having such a negative atmosphere birthed by workplace gossip, could disrupt the workplace. Office staff are busy either being careful about what to say or they become more careful about whom to trust. The friendship that initially characterized the office disappears with each staff pretending to be who he/she is not.
Such a workplace is left with only traces of productivity, and becomes more of a gossip ground. The end result of all these is degrading employee performance, workplace becoming creepy, and it could easily lead to high turnover number of the employees. After all, no one would like to be part of a work culture where everything about the work is the center of attraction, and not the actual work. But, the biggest matter of concern is that no matter how good an organization is you cannot prevent people from gossiping. However, what you can do is to minimize the impact of these baseless news and gossips.
Managing Workplace Gossip
As emphasized above, it is difficult to prevent workplace gossip, but as a leader, you have role to play in managing gossip. Discussed below are some of the measures to take:
Bring in transparency: When everything is said, and done behind closed doors, the chances of false rumours spreading are automatically heightened. This is the reason why as a leader you need to encourage openness and transparency at the office. Try to bring in a perspective in office meetings where everyone gets to participate and put forth their views. This will encourage a culture where everyone does not have any doubt that things are done behind the curtain; and prevents any chances of miscommunication leaving no room for gossips or rumours to be conceived.
Share the news while it’s hot: Whether it is good or bad, your office staff deserve to get the news before it gets stale. As a leader, if for example, a workshop is organized and your office have been given only three slots to attend, but you have more than three employees in the office; hold a meeting to discussed who and who are to participate in the workshop and why. If you fail to do this and secretly consults one or two people behind the scene, it breeds gossip. A leader should always share the updates on a regular basis with everyone.
Keep them together: Most important of all, encourage the feeling of being together as a team. Create an atmosphere where people are always avoiding these rumours and gossips. Rather they communicate directly to each other when they have something to say. Keep communication channels open, so that they don’t have to rely on other sources to get the news. As a leader, you need to be certain that everyone in the office has a clear picture of how things are done. This will make sure that there is no iota of uncertainty in their thoughts and people would consciously avoid being part of the unnecessary chatter.
To infer, creating a work culture where there is no room for gossips requires nothing more than a conscious effort. As a leader when you focus on building a team and a work culture in which the team can thrive, you will automatically be negating the chances of any miscommunication, lag of information or gossiping. It is on the strength of this that the Chartered Institute of Leadership and Governance instates its Continuing Professional Development (C.P.D) to share knowledge among members on this kind of negative workplaces practices.
About the Author:
Mr. Ibrahim Alhassan, FCILG is the Editor of Leadership and Governance Magazine. He is also a Data Analyst at University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, Ghana.
Reprint Policy: You may reprint / publish the above article. All we ask is that you keep all links active, make no changes to article and include the author’s bio. Article Resource: CILG Ghana