Career Tip: Run From Gossip
Business June 21st, 2010
Career progress and performance is an important area in life and through my experience in striving to improve my performance I’ve learned to find many ways to perform well in my career. It’s not been without its share of hard work though! And as a manager, I also have insight and perspective from the other side of expectations and performance improvements and so these career tips come from that mix of experience and from my own study and practice in my career. Please comment below if you have related experience or any experience/stories where you have used this tip!
Run From Gossip
This tip is unfortunately well known but rarely practiced. It’s about gossip in the workplace, the dangers of it and why you should run away from gossip whenever you detect it. I’ve written an article called, How to Free Yourself From Gossip which is a great article to refer to if you need help on implementing this tip which is basically to avoid gossip and run away from it whenever you can in the workplace. Gossip destroys relationships, it creates unhealthy conflict, bitterness and even resentment. There is no value in it and usually it is much more destructive than people ever know. If you want to make your working life easier and keep more friends, you can do this by staying out of gossip and not participating in it and even staying away from it altogether.
The most important steps for this career tip and to know when to run from gossip are outlined here. First learn to recognize gossip. Listen specifically for it and use the basic rule that you should never be talking about someone else without them attending unless it is a discussion about how to help them. Most other conversations about a person not listening is gossip, this the easier way to recognize it. Second, excuse yourself from any gossip by simply saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk about John unless he is here as well, so please excuse me.” Finally, learn what people tend to gossip, when they do and simply stay away from it, excuse yourself consistently from gossip and keep your distance from it as often as you can.
Running away from gossip is a smart thing to do in your career and an important skill to learn.
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Mike King
June 21st, 2010 at 4:41 AM
Amen! Gossip is usually a sign of frustrations and unfairness which are swept under the rug instead of dealt with. This is why I avoid people who gossip like the plague.
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:21 AM
Office gossip is a big one! I remember an office where I worked years ago, it was just a hotbed of affairs, bitching, people being two faced…….I didn’t last long! It wasn’t always completely avoidable, so my policy was not to say anything about anyone I wouldn’t say directly to their face. Just about got me through!
Now if anything like that occurs,l I either stay right away or tell the person off!
Great post, thanks,
Kate.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:41 PM
THanks Eduard and kate… Its a dangerous thing to participate in and even listen to as knowing the gossip is sometimes the trigger to ‘accidentally’ then blurting something out you ought not to. I had that same advice in the other article I had on gossip to not say anything you wouldn’t directly to them, it certainly puts an end to gossip about other people when this is put into practice.!
June 23rd, 2010 at 1:04 PM
You definitely want to stay away from rumors and gossip, I’ve learned that the hardway, from who I thought were “my friends” but at the end of it all when it really counted, I become the “bad guy” out if all. One thing I did learn from my experience, is that Politics and gossip is everywhere, even in sports, and just about anything you do in life.
Till then,
Jean
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:40 AM
This is important and can get you in trouble. I learned this lesson young while working at a restaurant. I was nice to everyone but if you just go to work and do your job and not worry about anybody but yourself you will do better than the average chatty Kathy.