Fact: drama damages your workplace and demotivates your staff, period. No exceptions. The end result is that the most talented employees leave and the drama continues and you have an actively disengaged workforce and productivity plummets. Oh no – it can’t get much worse.
How to put a halt to drama:
- Talk TO people, not ABOUT them.
- Share observations, not interpretations.
- Gather facts, not emotionally-ridden stories.
- Don’t exaggerate the facts to build your case.
- Be specific with examples. Generalizations are generally untrue.
- Resolve conflict quickly and face to face.
- If you feel emotionally charged, start by taking a breather + 24 hours of cool down.
- Listen to your emotional vocabulary. What do you want it to say about you?
- Listen instead of judging. You don’t know anybody’s full story.
Bring solutions. Remember, the attention drama brings you is not career affirming.
