05.09.08 The 6th Leadership Practice for Managing Negative Gossip : Know When to Intervene

Know When to Intervene

The fact is, whenever people convene in a place, it is natural to talk about each other; meaning that gossip should be expected. Therefore, it is not that supervisors should intervene each time a rumour surfaces in the unit, department, organisation or entity. But, as already said, when negative gossip starts getting out-of-hand, managerial intervention may be necessary. A good prompter is where gossip starts yielding the negative effects that we discussed earlier, which in the end could impede performance. Moreover, should you find that you are beginning to have frequent meetings just to handle gossip-related issues, it is an indication that you need to look more closely at the situation.

Another scenario that may require your intervention is where team members gossip against you insubordinately, and in a way that undermines your authority and credibility as their leader. Should that happen, you could also call the culprits to order using the organisation’s policy coupled with the processes and procedures for handling insubordination. Remember, negative gossip which is not adequately addressed can gradually become the culture of your unit, department, organisation or entity at large.

On reading Miriam’s narrative, the bible is silent on whether that was the very first time that her and Aaron were gossiping against Moses. What was odd about that particular gossip though, and as already mentioned in other places, was that the two siblings seemed to be challenging the approach that God was using to communicate with him (Moses). Questioning God’s methods was going too far; so, that was the time that Miriam should have intervened by putting a stop to the discussion.

In the JuaLink story, you may recall how Lulu released confidential information about pending layoffs, and how that information was all over the Agency’s corridors. Thatwas the time Obed the human resource officer should have intervened as a leader, to dispel the false rumour and settle the hearts of jittery team members. Had he succeeded in managing that rumour, JuaLink would have kept the crème de la crème of the Agency’s workforce rather than provoking them to defect to the competition. Through Obed’s intervention, the retained star performers would have been a powerful ace against Bidacom.