Rumors at work

What do you do when rumors - those that go coursing through almost every workplace start. Worse, what happens when those rumors hurt a member of your staff. The simple answer is you stop the rumors as quickly as possible. But rarely is life or work that simple.

Rumors do start - some because they are true or close (a shred of truth). Many because of fear - the thing that we don't want to happen becomes the reality. Some start to hurt a specific individual.

Most managers who have been around for a while have encountered all of these. Most of us go at the rumor for the simple reason that spreading rumors impacts the company - time. Most of us don't want to see our people waste time on something that is not true or not known. Most of us don't want to see our people hurt.

Whatever the reason that rumors start the goal should be truth - stop the rumor. Stop it quickly before it has an impact on the organization or hurts someone.

Talk to the group publicly if appropriate.
Talk to the individuals who passed on the rumor.
Talk to anyone directly effected by the rumor.