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O P I N I O N
Gossipmongers
If there’s gossip in the workplace, your firm will pay the price with warring teams and stalled dynamism. But there’s a three-point antidote to the problem.
W ork gossip. Some of us participate in it, and most of us see it as a relatively harmless reality of working in an office. But the truth is, gossip has the power to dismantle even the best teams and keep good teams from becoming truly great.
❚ ❚ Your team will split into warring factions. It’s typical for teams to have smaller sub-groups within them – these are usually teammates who work worst about their behavior. One of the hallmarks of a great team is assuming positive intent.” “When you start talking about co- workers instead of talking to them, you begin to see and assume the
Here’s why work gossip is bad news: ❚ ❚ It allows mistrust to grow. When you start talk- ing about co-workers instead of talking to them, you begin to see and assume the worst about their behavior. One of the hallmarks of a great team is assuming positive intent. This is the idea that we should assume that our teammates have a good rea- son for what they’re doing or what they’ve asked of us. When gossip spreads, your team will begin to do the complete opposite of this. Teammates will begin to assume that other individuals and groups have se- cret or ulterior motives for decisions, and they’ll fuel these suspicions with more gossip. Gossip makes it easy for a vicious cycle of mistrust and suspicion to take root and grow quickly within your team.
Linda Adams GUEST SPEAKER
See LINDA ADAMS, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER January 8, 2018, ISSUE 1230
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