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When you are in the business world you will forever be hearing rumors. While it is hard not to listen to all the rumors floating, it is imperative that you try to ignore them. So how are rumors started? Some people just love to gossip and some people love to spread gossip and rumors. Rumors can really affect productivity. Here is a case study that actually occurred in a local high tech company: “Chris was a technical writer and was working on a manual for a new product to be released in just a couple of weeks. The manual was difficult and complex to write and Chris was putting a lot of time and effort on the project. One day he was getting a drink of water and heard that the product was cancelled because is was too expensive to build. Chris went back to his cubicle and started cleaning his area and just taking it easy. About a week later, his supervisor wanted to know if the new product manual was finished. Chris said he had stopped working on it because the project was dropped. His supervisor immediately called the product manager who just laughed and said, “That was just a rumor.” Because of Chris, the company lost a lot of money because they missed the ship date. He should have checked with his supervisor BEFORE he acted on the rumor.” So how do rumors get started? People start rumors for various reasons such as: - If someone leaves or is fired people will make up a reason based on some limited knowledge or insignificant fact. It might be something like “I think he was stealing from inventory, because I used to see him in the storeroom a lot.” People see a pattern of behavior add their own explanation. - If people know that annual budget meetings are being held behind closed doors. Everybody is worried about what may be taking place and they end up starting rumors about budget cuts and layoffs. It does not help the fact that no information will come out until the budget is finalized. - People will start rumors about people they may not like. If someone sees a male and female co-worker spending a lot of time together, rumors will be started about them having an affair, however innocent it may be! - Some people start rumors just because they want people to listen to them and think they have the inside track on what is going on in the company. In summary, if you hear a rumor that bothers or affects you the best thing to do is to talk to your supervisor as soon as possible. Let them know everything you have heard and ask for an explanation Remember, it is important to NEVER act on rumor alone! Jim Stedt is a partner at The Business SoftSkills Company (GetSoftSkillsNow.Com) located in Santa Ana, California. They provide job readiness and workforce success videos for education, business, prisons and individual use. Training is available online, on DVD, or through an affiliate program. These products are the most complete and concise soft skills training packages now available for the price of an average college textbook.
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