Learn all about the many ways gossip, rumors and busybodies impact your company, in a very negative way. Fun Team Building has very doable, yet somewhat difficult, steps to bring your workplace into a positive, safe environment where true team building can begin.
Gossip
Gossip is often part of normal, workplace dynamics. It is generally engaged upon where participants have personal relationships and it does not make sense to those outside of “the group”. For example, is more likely to occur between co-workers in a department or employees on the plant floor but does not cross the line between department and plant floor employees, even if they are in the same company.
Rumors
Rumors, the repetition of information that is unsubstantiated by evidence, can be equally devastating to organizations. Usually there is a kernel of truth in the rumor, but somehow, someway, the information has exponentially become worse (i.e. more layoffs, plant closings) than the actual truth.
Unlike gossip, rumors occur as an act of public communication.
Busybodies
Workplace busybodies are the gossiper and rumormonger. Usually, one or two individuals in the company are the bad apples and responsible for most of the damage listed above. Their mission (as they see it) is to spread their behavior to others and bring the organization to an all-time low morale point.