Drama is a word that can immediately induce dread and take you straight back to high school. Because humans have emotions, the drama is likely to follow you wherever you go, especially when people are clustered together. A workplace, like high school, becomes the perfect breeding ground.  

As gossip swirls, the negative energy grows and can ultimately damage your company culture. What was once positive becomes toxic, and you see the long-term effects, like a decreased bottom line and more turnover. Knowing this, you have to do everything you can to keep office drama from ruining everything. Here are three suggestions to keep the drama at bay.  

Don’t let venting happen.

Venting is a normal thing most, if not all humans will do. Sometimes you have the worse day or experience and need to speak to a confidante about it. While everyone will do this, there is a time and a place, and it isn’t at the office.  

You can’t monitor every conversation to make sure venting isn’t happening, but you can set the standard. If an employee comes in trying to vent, politely shut them down. You can help them find a solution to a problem, but it needs to be a productive conversation and not just complaining. This will help set the tone that concerns are taking seriously, but being overly dramatic when upset is not acceptable.  

Don’t let it slide.

Through the grapevine and whispers, you will hear about drama in the office. There’s the temptation to let it play itself out, but you need to consider the reality. Do you think your team will ultimately work it out, or will the gossip only worsen? History will probably tell you the latter, so you need to step in.  

The goal here isn’t to become a ‘big brother-Esque’ boss who is always putting your employees under surveillance. You want to make your stance on drama clear, so it doesn’t take over the office. It’s finding the balance between confrontation and resolution without ruining any trust you’ve built with the team.  

Do have in-person conversations.

Ultimately, when a resolution is needed, you have to do it face to face. Call in the people involved and asked them what’s going on. Again, not so they can vent, but so you can find the truth. Ask them what action steps are needed and work with them as they develop a plan. Then, facilitate a meeting between those wrapped up in the drama to ultimately work it out.  

The more you practice these steps and make your dedication to drama known, the more your team will understand and respect your process and hopefully grow to the point that they begin to work out the issues themselves.  

Local knowledge to give you an edge. 

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