One Simple Way to Be a Better Professional
Stop gossiping. It’s that simple. I could really end this blog post with that first sentence- except for the fact that everyone knows that gossiping is bad, and yet it is one of the most common behaviors engaged in at any workplace. Why?
People love to be “in the loop” and on the inside of the in-crowd. Professional behavior requires a level of decorum and distance that seems uncomfortable to many. Certainly gossip is a behavior as old as humanity itself- as are the warnings against it. In almost every tradition, there is an admonition not to gossip:
Socrates had a “3 filter” test for news that someone wanted to share about another:
- Do you know it to be true- have you witnessed the event firsthand?
- Is it good and edifying? Are you sharing this information to build someone up or to tear them down?
- Is there utility in sharing this information? Will it be useful to me, the listener?
If information doesn’t pass this test- there is no reason to share it. Pretty much every other religion and wisdom tradition has its own version of the above. We often think about this rebuke against gossip as primarily pertaining to our personal lives, but for anyone who has ever worked in an office environment, you know that the water cooler at the office is festering with news about co-workers. Best to keep clear of this.
Confidentiality is something that, particularly working in financial services- but many other professions as well- we focus on when it comes to things like client information. But how much more important is it to keep the confidences of your co-workers and team mates?
Being of high integrity is essential to ultimately being a good person, and a good professional. Not gossiping is such low hanging fruit- yet sadly it is pretty rare in the workforce.
I challenge everyone reading this to be aware as you go through this day of gossip when you see it, and choose not to participate. One of the best lessons I have learned about how to stop gossip was from some middle school girls that I was chaperoning once on a field trip. They had been told from very young ages at their school of the damaging effects of gossip — and they had really taken it to heart. But like all people, occasionally there was a slip. When one girl started to share some “juicy news” about someone not present, very quickly one of the other girls cut her off and said “let’s change the subject.” All of these girls new that was the signal that said “this is gossip, and we need to stop it before it even gets started”- and they did!
It is just that easy for us in the workplace. When you hear a co-worker starting to talk about someone else in a way that doesn’t meet the Socratic test, just say “let’s change the subject”- and best to start that with ourselves!
