Did you hear that Janie took credit for a marketing campaign that Stan came up with, winning kudos from the boss and leaving Stan out in the cold? Of course, Stan is understandably ticked, threatening to quit, and bad-mouthing both Janie and the boss to anyone who is willing to listen. Making matters worse, Janie is dating Stan's roommate Peter, and Stan is fit to be tied! He has to deal with Janie's antics after work as well, and he can't complain to his buddy or he'll risk losing their friendship, as well as half the rent. That Janie sure is a piece of work and she must have the boss wrapped around her finger. And Stan? He's so mad that he's impossible to work with these days.
Ah….office gossip, the stuff that some people thrive on. We all like a little drama, right? Every office has it, and most of it's harmless, after all. And it's fun.
NOT!
Sure, some gossip could be considered harmless. In fact, some researchers claim it actually helps build camaraderie and create a more positive and creative working environment. While this may be true, it's hard to believe that's the case very often since gossip tends to take a wrong turn most of the time and go from bad to worse. If you've ever dealt with toxic gossip (which inevitably comes from toxic people), then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, consider yourself fortunate. Toxic gossip depletes morale, tarnishes reputations, and reduces productivity.
OK, so even if you accept that some gossip creates camaraderie, if you strip it all down, it comes down to this: you're talking about other people, not to them. Discussing the latest office politics while balancing ledgers, typing up reports, or attaching some small parts on an assembly line might help kill time and build bonds with your office buddies, but it's not nice to talk about other people, even if it's not bad. How would you feel if people were talking about you?
The reality is that even if you think you're sharing harmless information, it's rare that it stays right where you left it. Gossip is like a weed. You don't need to feed it to watch it grow. One day, everything seems fine, but three days later, you've got a huge problem that's sprouted all kinds of new offshoots heading in all directions. Somehow the pretty new secretary has become the girl who got hired by the boss with the wandering eye, who must be cheating on his wife, who only married him for his money, most of which he's lost to gambling debts anyway!
See what I mean?
I've actually seen people lose their jobs due to gossip that got out of control. The sad thing is, it wasn't actually the people doing the gossiping that got fired — it was the person being gossiped about. Sure, it was a result of the gossip actually being true, but the process of getting to the truth and making the boss aware of it was incredibly dysfunctional and oh so ugly. By the time it was all resolved, there wasn't a single person involved that came out of it looking the least bit professional.
If you ever find yourself the focus of gossip, you should know that it can be pretty hurtful. By the time it gets back to you, you might be surprised by who's been talking about you, and by what they've been saying. In fact, you might be downright shocked to hear just how distorted and mean people can get, especially if they don't have the same level of authority in the company that you do. And it might very likely be people that you liked and that you thought liked you.
Of course, you might be the type of person who isn't impacted by what people think or say about you. It's an admirable quality to be able to shrug stuff off, or to be able to maintain your boundaries and professionalism all the time. Or maybe you're the boss and you know that gossip happens and that people just aren't always going to like you. However, just because you're the boss doesn't mean you should ignore gossip that becomes a problem. You can help manage it, and in cases where it's out of control, you can dish out the consequences.
The best way to protect yourself from becoming the subject of gossip is to minimize the amount of personal information you share, not assume that co-workers are the same as friends, and avoid conversations that digress into gossip sessions. This not only helps you look more professional, but it helps keep you from being dragged down by any negative office culture that exists. If people know that you're more than willing to engage in gossip, your professional integrity looks tarnished to your superiors as well as to your peers. You lose credibility, which can hurt your career in the long run.
As a supervisor, you should never engage in gossip, especially with your employees. Your role is to maintain your boundaries and deal with gossip as needed. Since it can negatively impact your employees on all kinds of levels, you should be able to tell when it's getting out of hand and needs to be dealt with.
No matter how hard you might try to avoid it, office gossip is still likely to find you, but you can manage it wisely by doing a few different things. Gossip that's obviously negative in nature should be stopped in its tracks. If you're a supervisor, confront it. If you're a co-worker, you can still confront it, or you can choose to simply not engage in it. (However, if you have the courage, confront it, even if it's uncomfortable.) Confrontation doesn't have to be ugly and with a little forethought, you should be able to figure out how to point out the error of one's ways without stepping on any toes.
Avoiding Gossip 
