posted by Anna Fleet on October 15th, 2010
Yes, it’s true that many of us spend the majority of our waking lives at work. And it’s just human nature to stroke the embers of gossip.
Workplace gossip is a fierce beast. We’re all guilty of it, but I’m not pointing fingers…at you Carrie, at the water cooler talking about the latest office romance…I’m simply trying to point out how damaging office gossip can be when the amount of energy that goes into people undermining other people at work, for the same company, with hopes of success— you see what I’m getting at.
That’s why my eyes perked up (that’s impressive for a Friday folks) when today’s Harvard Business Review ran an article on how office gossip kills productivity and possibility, by author Dan Pallotta. Gossip kills the business by taking our attention away from the greater success of the company, or as Pallotta says, “or [the businesses] real potential, which is essentially the same thing. We end up working harder to undermine our fellow workers than we work to make the business work out in the market place. Competitors couldn’t possibly thwart the possibility of our success to the degree we thwart it ourselves. When we gossip about the leader of our enterprise, we create an organization more committed to her failure than her success…Honesty is the essence of leadership.”
Pallotta further points out that he’s not introducing rocket science here. We’re all aware how destructive gossip can be. And he shares this advice: “Make ruthlessly honest communication, at all levels, priority number one.” Because otherwise, and we’ve all seen this happen, things that have been kept silent can grow to immeasurable atrocities in the eyes of the so-called victim—especially when they come to the surface.
Honest communication is powerful stuff, and you can embed healthy communication in your organization in these ways:
1. You can’t simply outlaw gossip unilaterally—you have to get the whole organization to see it as a negative thing by nurturing a culture where gossip is unwelcome.
2. Help people see the unconstructive costs of gossip—on a personal and enterprise level—gossip can cost an organization happiness, harmony, success, fulfillment, teamwork and money.
3. Put serious time and resources into healthy communication—hire experts to help develop a culture of healthy communication and allocate time for training on an ongoing basis.
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Tags: building sustainable culture, creating healthy workplace culture, design thinking strategy, gossip kills business possibility, harvard business review
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