Low-Grade Fever

One of the rules of crisis management is to isolate the crisis to mitigate its effects. Part of this strategy is to assign some people to handle the crisis so others can get on with their jobs. If this is not done, the organization can be consumed with news, reliable or otherwise, about the crisis and little work will get done.

I've seen similar situations with gossip. Rumors regarding affairs, gambling, drinking, family problems and whatever else would make a good soap opera episode can erode productivity, spark defamation suits, and destroy careers unless they are squelched. The problem is they don't have the status of a widely-acknowledged crisis and so there isn't a professional, well-organized response. They resemble a low-grade fever that saps the energy and yet doesn't drive one to visit a doctor.

Shutting the door to gossip seems like a good strategy, but there are times when gossip is valuable. You hear from A who heard from B who got it from C that D is so abusive to his project team that they're planning to resign. That information can be nice to have. On the other hand, if the gossip concerns a strictly personal matter or contains information that has the potential to do great harm to someone's reputation, it needs to be stopped or channeled into an investigation.

Is it the classic "idle gossip" or is it serious gossip? Determining which is which is not always easy but it is necessary or that low-grade fever may bring you down.