How workplace gossip enables sexual harassers

Is there such a thing as good gossip? In the face of these horrendous stories of sexual abuse and harassment I've heard the argument, “How many women would have been spared the ignominy or trauma of an ‘inappropriate’ experience with (fill in the blank) if they had been warned about his behavior through gossip?”

I’m sure there are women who were spared because of gossip, not only in these horrendous situations we are hearing about now in the media but every day in small and large businesses across the country. I know I was. “Hey! Just a word to the wise, you don’t want to be the last one left at the bar with Bill after the office party tonight.” Or, “When you’re on this road trip with Steve, make sure you keep it really professional. Just saying.” So I did. After the first colleague left the bar, I was the second. On that road-trip when Steve suggested dinner together at the end of a hard day, I thanked him politely but said I had a work project that was overdue.

Saved by gossip? Yes, I was. But — and it’s a huge but -- how many other women didn’t hear the gossip? The bigger question is how many other women were victimized because gossip was tolerated in the first place as a substitute for dealing with problem employees?

On the best professional teams I've seen, gossip is never tolerated. Instead, the tough conversations happen. Talking about coworkers and coworkers' behavior behind their backs is a habit that allows us to avoid conflict, but open conflict, debate, and disagreement are at the heart of the world’s best teams.

My research on hundreds of teams shows that the highest-performing ones (when compared to low-performing teams) are 50 times more likely to openly discuss conflict when it arises, 125 times more likely to address unacceptable team behaviors promptly, and 40 times less likely to have “undiscussables” -- things that the team can’t talk openly about.