In his new book, The No-Gossip Zone, author Sam Chapman, president of a Chicago-based public-relations firm, says that eliminating gossip at work will create healthier, more productive office environments. The key is to encourage full emotional honesty where employees feel free to share their thoughts and feelings with one another. But is creating a touchy-feely workplace really the best option, or is it a way to get fired? Dave McGinn spoke to Mr. Chapman about gossip, telling the boss what you really think and crying at the office.
Why is gossip such a bad thing? It seems most people love to gossip. They do. They like to drink too, and have wild orgies. But that doesn't mean that it's good for your work environment or something that your boss should be paying you to do.
Is there a difference between gossiping about what Britney Spears did on the weekend and gossiping about co-workers? Yes, in fact, a huge difference, and one that makes this whole thing not ridiculous if you ask me. I'm not trying to get into the middle of anyone's constitutional rights or political speech, just my clients and my colleagues. We have formed a no-gossip zone in our work community only and you can still trash Eliot Spitzer all you want or talk about Britney's latest boyfriend.
How do you define gossip? Gossip is something negative said outside the presence of a subject.
Once you instituted a “no-gossip” policy at your public-relations firm you had to fire three people. What were they gossiping about? Me. My management approach. How they might do it better.
Do you really think gossiping should be a fire-able offence? The short answer is yes.
You say in the book that the key to eliminating gossip is “authentic communication.” How would you describe that? Authentic communication is speaking your truth instead of holding it back.
Couldn't that be a great way to get fired? I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who, if they shared the truth about what they think of their boss, would be shown the door. Isn't there a lot of room in that kind of complete honesty for getting in trouble? There is, and I face it with clients all the time. But it's a lot better to live that way. You have to decide whether you want to be clean and aligned at work or if you want to work for somebody you can't talk to.
What do you think companies would get from instituting a “no-gossip” policy? Higher profits and higher revenue. You'd get more loyalty from your employees, more employee happiness and more productive hours.
Just how big a problem do you think gossip in the workplace is? I think it's the No. 1 problem for workers in the workplace other than not having enough money.
In the book, you say it's okay to have sexual feelings for co-workers so long as those feelings aren't acted upon. The idea is, you don't want to get stuck in them [sexual feelings]. The reason people do the wrong thing is they get stuck. They don't feel their feelings, they tap it off and then think about it over and over again instead of resolving it. So I encourage my employees, when they have a thought like that, so that they don't act inappropriately, to go somewhere where they can feel their feelings, to go into a bathroom stall or a quiet office and shimmy a little bit.
There's one point in the book where you say that if someone feels the need to cry in the office to just lay it out there and let the tears flow, rather than running to the bathroom or something for privacy. Isn't that going to make that person the office weirdo? It is if it's not something that's sanctioned, but in my office it's all right to cry. We say it in the interview, “It's all right. Have your sadness.” You might think twice about it when you're in some sort of big sales presentation, but other than that I want you to be who you really are when you're with me so that we can get to work.
Do you think there's anything bad about too much emotional honesty at work? I just don't think that anything comes from bottling it up. I hear you, but the alternative is much worse: tapping off your feelings, choking back your emotions, getting stuck therefore in those emotions, talking behind each other's back, letting negative commentary flow regularly about your colleagues. These are the things I'm trying to do away with.
