The gossip has very bad press. Some evoke the devil’s radio. Few people would also like to be identified as a gossip at work. That said, who does not reach out when these delicious conversations take place in the office next door? Anthropologists even believe that it occupies up to 65 % of our everyday conversations. Is it time to restore its letters of nobility to a practice old as the world?
Researchers have shown that gossip could have a positive influence on the success of the teams, in particular because it promotes empowerment and accountability.
The gossip is simply defined as “talking about someone who is not present”. Like it or not, it plays a preponderant role in our work environments and in society. A company without gossip would certainly be dysfunctional!
A study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology Also shows that the commerage leads the body to secrete oxytocin, hormone responsible for love, attachment and generosity. Note that this is a universal phenomenon. Do you know well of companies, or companies, where the gossip is absent? A research also calculated that a in six email exchanged at work was gossip. You will not be surprised to learn that gossip is 2.7 times more frequently negative than positive.
Even if you try to prevent people from commeting, they will do it anyway, but by mentioning their interlocutor not to repeat any information you have just shared.
This new informed person, we suspect, will repeat it to another person, specifying the next one not to repeat it, because it was specified not to talk about it. And so on. The gossip undoubtedly always finds its way.
A study published in Nature Human Behaviour reveals that behind what seems to be a common decision to share information in a corridor conversation is in fact hiding a complex and unconscious strategic calculation based on social interaction cards. Researchers have indeed shown that our brain draws social networks cards during our sleep in order to refine our goming strategy, to know who to tell our stories.
How to explain the beneficial effects of gossip at work? In a team, the balance of cooperation is fragile; People who act against the group’s interest pose a risk in social cohesion. The anticipation that gossip is possible is a form of preventive punishment. Research testifies that the belief that we could be the prey of the gossip increases our tendency to collaborate.
Think of the arrival of evaluation platforms like TripAdvisor. Isn’t that the largest gossip platform in the world? And who will be punished? We bet that the hotels which operated under models of false representation did not hope with joy this rapid and effective opportunity of gorging, unlike hotels which offered an excellent service and for whom finally “the word happens”.
The same goes for workers; Those who are positive actors in their business are rewarded by the gossip of people who highlight their strengths. It becomes a relationship accelerator, because confidence will quickly be built when people have spoken positively about you behind your back.
For those who direct a team, this brings us back to the importance of group breaks and conversations around the coffee machine. Maybe it small talk is more important than we imagine. Those who manage in the context of telework must also question themselves: there is still room for these conversations, while some fear today that their exchanges are recorded.
I imagine that some readers smile on reading this article saying: “I like to speak in the back of people, it comforts me!” Please note, not all forms of gossip are equal. The intentions of the person who has gossip are analyzed by the one who receives the information.
Is this a prosocial intention, for example, I am on the lookout with a colleague who tends to promise things that he cannot deliver, or is it a selfish intention on his part, either to serve his cause? I therefore invite you to sincerely validate your intentions before embarking on gossip.
And if someone propagates false rumors in your organization and dares to use the power of gossip for their own ends to advance their own interests, rest assured that people will realize it and comment on the others about the gorging cheater. Let’s call that … Metacommerage!
