Gossiping at Work
Suggested Strategy: This person may not be aware that gossip can not only be distracting, but hurtful to those that may overhear or have word get back to them.
Suggested Questions:
Î Permission-Based Question + The Sword: This strategy opens the person you would like to coach up to receiving feedback (Permission) and presents the fact that you are owning the reason you are giving feedback (The Sword). “With your permission, I would like to share some observations with you that I have made that may provide an opportunity for growth with our company.” When permission is granted, follow with, “Because I don’t want to make any assumptions because that would be unfair to you, I would like to share my perception that you participate in gossip at the office, and it may be having a distracting effect on other members of the team.” Î Reflective Question: Without answering immediately — give yourself some time to think about your answer — would like to know what actions we can take together to help you and the other members of the team avoid gossiping during the day, as gossip can be hurtful as well as distracting.
Suggested Activities:
Î Whiteboard Coaching: At the top of a whiteboard, write the word Gossip. On the left-hand side of the board, write down the effects that this person thinks that gossip can have on the office culture. On the right-hand side of the board, write down how this person would describe the ideal office culture. Underneath that, write down
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