The Danger of Gossip Within an Organization (Church, Company)

Gossip is commonly defined as rumour or talk of a personal, intimate, or sensational nature. Whether or not the gossip is true, it is often toxic, spreading faster than a virus in a kindergarten classroom. Not only does gossip bring down morale, it affects the culture of the organization. Often, those who habitually engage in gossip are passionate about what they are saying but lack the solutions or the power to make positive change happen.

Gossip hampers teamwork, productivity, time management, and employee retention. Additionally, it can cause a great deal of anxiety and promote a negative climate and culture of the organization. This, in turn, is reflected to the public as well as potential quality employees and can ultimately impact a business’ bottom line.

How Do You Stop Gossip in your Organization?

In order to curb gossip once it has started, it is important to be sure that you have established a vision and a mission statement that defines the organizational culture and expectations. If you haven’t done this already, do it immediately. Once the mission statement and expectations for all employees have been established, be sure that everyone, from the top leadership on down knows and understands the expectations. Most importantly, set a personal example that lives up to these standards. By creating a positive culture within your organization and holding everyone accountable to that standard, you are clearly defining who you are as an organization to your staff and your customers.

How Can New Business Owners Avoid Pitfalls that Lead to Gossip and Complaining

Quick answer—don’t hire humans. Just kidding. While you can’t eliminate gossip and negativity entirely, here are some ways to keep it to a minimum:

1. Focus on a strong, positive foundation—From the onset, have a clearly defined vision and mission statement that definitively describes the culture and values that you expect within the organization. Many leaders are so focused on sales, processes, and finances that they fail to give this step its proper attention.


2. Reward staff members who reflect these values—Positive reinforcement boosts morale and motivates staff to strive to meet these standards.


3. Keep lines of communication open—By listening to your employees, you can eliminate the frustration or helplessness that staff sometimes feels when dealing with aloof management and the gossip that often accompanies that frustration. Even if you don’t act on the suggestions, you have given employees a voice and a way to contribute in a meaningful way. As Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, once stated, “It is terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stock boys.”


4. Talk the talk and walk the walk—Leaders who actually lead by positive example have a powerful effect on others. An effective leader inspires others to behave similarly.

Whether the perpetrators are top level management, front line employees, or both, gossip and complaining can be toxic and costly to an organization. By clearly defining values and expectations and constantly cultivating a positive culture within your organization, you will boost personal productivity, time management, teamwork, and personal leadership among staff members. This positive culture will naturally attract quality employees who share those values and will ultimately increase your customer base and profitability.

Could your organization benefit from management development, staff or team development, organizational leadership, or business coaching to reach your goals and create a positive climate? STRIDES LEADERSHIP PROJECT offers programs tailored to meet your specific needs. We have provided leadership development training, executive coaching, entrepreneurship training, public speaking training, customer relationship training church management and administration, performance management, church marketing training to many successful churches and companies. Contact us to see how we can help your organization or church reach its goals.