It’s been another long day, and you didn’t get your work done. This morning, conversation stopped when you walked into the office, and your staff attempted to look busy. You knew something was up, but you weren’t about to ask questions and buy into their nonsense. So you made a beeline for your office. Fifteen minutes later, the office gossip shows up at your door. Someone wants to “inform” you of what’s been going on, “but you can’t tell anyone.” What she says is not surprising. Your team is continually bickering, telling on one another, and outright refusing to work with each other.

So, you spent the entire day settling the team and getting them back on track. Not only did you have to address poor behavior among team members, but you also had to calm their fears about the rumor of a 25% cut in staff due to funding shortfalls.

Sheesh, you never thought the most significant part of your job would be taming gossip.

If this sounds familiar, you are one of many who struggles with gossip in the workplace. Productive and collaborative teams become dysfunctional as staff blame one another for mistakes and focus on problems instead of finding answers. The financial impact of unchecked gossip is staggering when you take into account unproductive use of time, sick days and staff turnover. Furthermore, the reputation of the organization is tainted, and funders, donors and clients lose trust in the staff’s ability to provide quality service.

Leadership should enforce policies and practices to change the culture from behind-the-scenes gossip to open, honest and direct dialogue. In my last article, I shared two strategies leaders must implement for stopping gossip and minimizing conflict in the workplace. They require team leaders to coach staff on communication skills.

Employees should be taught the basics of communication, including active listening and being assertive, followed by the regular practice of skills through role-playing.

Although uncomfortable at first, role-playing hard-to-have conversations is the only way of reinforcing skill development and building self-confidence. Practice can occur one on one with the team leader and during a team meeting.