Gossip, it’s something that seems to be everywhere, but can you actually stop it?
There is a very real difference between gossiping about something in a malicious way, and talking about something because you’re genuinely curious. It’s important to know the difference, especially in an office setting.
When looking into what impacts employee morale, you’ll find that conflicts come first, not feeling valued, and too much office gossip causing rifts between employees.
When people gossip, it often leaves others feeling alienated. They might worry that the gossip is about them, they might wonder why they’re not being included in the discussion, and if it is about them, they’re going to be angry and upset, which quickly leads to conflict.
Put simply, gossip is something you should try and get rid of, but it’s human nature to talk!
Check out this video for a bit more information.
The first thing to do is to look at the situation, as a manager, and work out whether there is one specific person doing the gossiping, a specific group of people, or whether it’s totally random. If it’s one person or a small group, and the gossip is starting to cause a problem, it may be a good idea to have a chat with that person/those people and simply explain that gossip doesn’t have a place within the office setting and that standing around the office furniture chatting and gossiping isn’t a productive way to spend time.
If you don’t want to single anyone out, or you find that it’s a totally random problem, you could bring up the issue of office gossip at your next team meeting. This has to be done carefully; if you steam in there and try to ban people from talking you’re going to end up with a revolt on your hands.
Instead, try a softly, softly approach first. Explain the detrimental effects of gossip and how if people want to gossip, they should do so about positive things only. It’s also important to be an example and not do any gossiping yourself!
At the end of the day, gossiping is something that all humans do. For the most part, it’s not meant in a malicious way but it has effects which ripple through the office. Everyone sitting at their office desks will start wondering whether the gossip is about them and that’s not something you want where morale is concerned.