The researchers found that while negative gossip made the listener feel superior to the person being gossiped about, thus boosting self-esteem, it also made the listener feel more vulnerable to similar treatment. Meanwhile, listening to flattering gossip gave listeners ideas about how to improve themselves, so they could be more like the person being gossiped about.
Without water-cooler chats, we've found ways to move our gossip to other online channels as we've been working remotely Credit: Getty Images. Although we may not be gathered around a physical water cooler to whisper scandalous hearsay to one another, we have DMs and Slack as alternative remote-work channels.
That means that right now, gossip could be about figuring out if your colleagues are in the market for a new job at a place that will allow more flexible work-from-home arrangements, or comparing notes with fellow parents about pandemic-era childcare woes.
Sometimes, though, gossiping is just unbridled catharsis about people or structures you dislike. Your session has expired. Please log in as a SHRM member. Cancel Sign In. Please purchase a SHRM membership before saving bookmarks. OK Join. An error has occurred. From Email. To Email. Send Cancel Close. Post a Job See All Jobs. Move your HR career forward. Applicants now have the option to test from home.
Get unlimited access to articles and member-only resources. Gather their suggestions, implement a few at a time, and check in periodically to share your progress. Merely collecting ideas from team members and practicing behaviors that take you past your comfort zone sends a powerful message to them. It shows you are leading yourself before expecting others to follow you.
When they see you working on yourself, your team will not only have less unfounded criticism of you but will be more eager to talk through issues directly because they know you welcome their input for continuous improvement. Despite all your efforts at improving yourself, you may still learn that your team continues to talk about you behind your back. And fortunately, there are some unlikely advantages that their private chatter brings.
Many employees report that gossip is the primary way they learn about matters within the company. Not to mention, their gossip can keep you apprised of potential problems that lie under the radar. Another benefit of workplace gossip is that it may reinforce company values in a high performing culture because it keeps lagging coworkers in check. Lastly, the team that gossips about you may find themselves less stressed as research shows spreading information about troubling events alleviates the anxiety from it.
In the era of COVID, consider that gossip may enhance your team culture through stress and social distance because it helps them cope and stay connected.
Ultimately you may never like that your team is privately disparaging you, but following these strategies can help you capitalize on the opportunity to develop yourself as a leader and foster deeper trust with your team. You can access his tip sheet on delivering tension-free feedback to your team and receive his monthly newsletter. In another organization we studied, a lot of the gossip revolved around an intergroup conflict. But the root problem was the conflict. Directives to halt gossip usually backfire and generate more gossip.
Too often organizations try to squelch it without addressing the problems that are generating it. Negative gossip is a symptom of a larger organizational issue. You should focus on resolving it and on increasing communication and showing that the information you give out is truthful.
Those actions will have a much bigger impact. Too often managers try to squelch gossip without addressing the problems that are generating it. Gossip is a symptom of a larger organizational issue. They already do. In our sample, supervisors had more gossip partners than nonsupervisors did—an average of 7.
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