Yesterday I talked a little about gossip.  One of the things I didnt say is that one of the primary products of gossip is rumor (actually I was saving it for today).

People gossip.  Rumors fly.  And then, a cloud of uncertainty envelops all involved.  If you want to kill performance, uncertainty is Public Enemy No. !.

It is virtually impossible for any person to give 100% to any action where uncertainty exists.  You who golf know this one well”œFive iron or six iron?  œI could hit an easy five or a hard six.  œFive or six? œOh, just hit it.  You know what the result is likely to be.

Rumor is such a phenomenon that we now have rumor psychologists.  Nick DiFonzo at Rochester Institute of Technology is one of them.  See his take on it in the August 2009 issue of Entrepreneur magazine.

The tricky thing with rumor is that it tends to have little fact or œtruth” to it.  Sometimes it is started as a result of someones intuition or educated guess.  The trouble is that it will be distorted in it’s telling.  Each teller will put a little spin on it so that eventually there is only a faint resemblance to the original.  People are left wondering what to think or how to act.

Whatever your leadership role (Head Coach, CEO, Project Team Leader, etc.) it might be critical that you get to the source of the rumor as quickly as possible.  You dont want to give credibility to the rumor, nor do you want to completely discount it.  Just the facts Maam.

Once you are armed with the facts, let your team know what you know.  People can deal with what they know, even when the news is bad.  They have no way to deal with what they dont know.

Something you may have heard your whole life is the old adage, œNo news is good news.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  One of your most important reports is œI have nothing to report.  There is no change in status and, I havent forgotten about you”.

When someone doesnt know the status of things, the mind will begin to make up œstuff about whats going on.  It will begin to make it mean something about you or them.

Heres a common, everyday occurrence.  You are expecting a call from someone about something that is important to you.  In fact, youve made several calls with no response.  Then the mind takes over and the downward  spiral begins given what you think will be worst case scenarios.

The mood becomes somethings wrong.  Something is wrong with the other person or the project or maybe even you.  All psychological drama.

What are the facts?  Fact One:  I made four calls.  Fact Two:  I havent received a call back.  This is all that has taken place.  Anything else we think we made up.

The truth is that we dont know what the other guy is doing or what might be going on in his life.  Also, what is priority #1 for you might not be that high on his list.

Whatever it is, it isnt worth getting you panties in a twist.  Be sure I am not condoning his behavior.  Return your calls in a timely fashion.  Keep your people informed constantly.  The more stressful the situation the more frequent the up-dates.  You are in charge of certainty.