Gossip Derails Team Development
Just got off the phone with one of my former athletes who’s now coaching. She’s pulling 
her hair out! Gossip is running rampant on her team.
A top killer of team development is gossip. What is gossip? It’s any third party conversation. What’s that? Basically it’s talking about someone when they’re not there – you’re talking about them instead of talking to them.
What’s wrong with a little gossip? We all do it. Celebrity gossip is a billion dollar industry! Gossip distorts the facts, causes confusion, creates cliques and ultimately impacts team performance.
So what can you do as a coach? First, refuse to participate. When you hear an athlete gossiping, insists that they speak directly to the person they are talking about. Have a “no gossip” rule on the team. This means team members refuse to gossip or listen to gossip.
On high performance team, if someone hears something and wants to know more, they go directly to the source. No one participates in any third party conversations – cause listening to gossip is just as harmful as speaking it!
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