I Heard a Rumor

 

No, I am not going to talk about Bananarama’s eponymous chart topper in the 1980s. I am more interested in the day-to-day rumors that you eat, sleep and dream with. Rumor is like a giant octopus; it sucks up all your energy as you wrestle with it. Unfortunately, it is something that you have to deal with in all projects even though you hate it down to your bones. Like it or not, you probably have, unintentionally, become part of the conduit that has helped rumor to propagate. Yet in other occasions, you might even have played the victim role yourself. Dealing with rumor in projects is a waste of time. It not only affects the team’s productivity, it also dampens morale, destroys bonding, creates anxiety, ruins reputations and crushes the confidence of stakeholders. However, you can’t just ignore it. Failure to manage rumor properly will bring your project down in no time. How can you fight back against rumor? Below are some rumor management tips that may help you in your projects.

• Prevention: Obviously, the best way to stop something is to prevent it from even happening. You have to do the same to prevent rumors from spreading and festering in your project team or organization. Build a strong immunity system in your environment by fostering trust and an open culture in the team. Do not try to hide things and think that people are ignorant enough to be fooled. Information leaks. It is better for your team to hear the first hand truth from you than for them to get it through the twisted grapevines. Bobby Clarke, as a general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, once said "I've discovered that the less I say, the more rumors I start." Rumors breed on uncertainties and lack of trust. The idle minds start to go wild when you leave them with too many blanks to fill. Share information openly with people so that they do not need to waste time making up a fake one for you.
• Confrontation: There is a saying – “Who brings a tale takes two away.” Sometimes, prevention is just insufficient to stop one or two rumors from popping up occasionally. In order to minimize the potential damage done by the rumor, the most effective way is to nip it in the bud and attack it at the source. Rumor grows as it goes. The sooner you react, the lesser effort you need to address it. Hunt down the source of rumor, challenge the person directly and prevent him or her from inflicting more damages. Direct confrontation works well if you have the right authority and facts to back you up as that will increase your chance of stopping the rumor at its source. It is suitable when the circle of impact of the rumor is still relatively small.
• Extermination: When it is too late to nip the rumor in the bud, you will need to face it directly and respond constructively. Trying to control a rumor that has already been circulated widely is almost impossible. A wiser approach is to acknowledge the existence of the rumor, and address it formally. Hold a meeting with the entire team and everyone who is involved or interested in the rumor and deal with their concerns one by one openly. After that, exterminate the rumor once and for all by warning them that all talking on the rumor should be stopped. Handle it like what Horace once said “Buy the rumor, sell the fact.” Let the facts do the talking. People will start to lose interest in the rumor when it dropped its mysterious veil.
• Evasion: Sometimes, trying to squash a rumor is like trying to compress a spring. The harder you press, the stronger it will bounce back at you. People may get more excited and interested in the rumor if you reacted strongly on it. In other words, you are actually helping the rumor to bloom. In such situations, it may be wiser to take a step back and leave the rumor alone to fade away. As Will Rogers once said “A mind conscious of innocence laughs at the lies of rumor.” Ungrounded rumors will not stand the test of time.
• Diversion: When all else fails, try to divert the attention of the team to other more meaningful things (e.g. sharing some good news with them). Alternatively, you may also brush the rumor aside positively with a sense of humor and have the team to focus back on the actual project tasks. Keep the idle minds busy so that they will not have time to catch up with rumor.