Muggers in Our Midst - When Rumour and Gossip Pay You a Visit

'I heard it on the grapevine' the old song goes. But the grapevine has the potential to cause your business strife, misunderstanding and ruin! In effect the rumour mill and gossip are dangers you cannot ford to ignore. People who indulge in these behaviours are like muggers ? they leave you feeling you have been robbed!

Many small business owners and managers are so busy that they fail to take notice of the poison disseminated through their organisation like a cancer silently consuming all before them.

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to gravitate to negative thinking, gossip and innuendo? The amazing thing is that these people are the first to raise their hands for more money and less responsibility. They come to work on your business thinking they do you a service only to silently erode staff morale and confidence in your business.

You can take action and protect your business.

Mugging Matters

You can identify the mugger. They have some identifiable traits.

? Always seems to be busy but don't get much done
? Spend time on personal emails, forwarding them to your employees
? Where there is trouble there they are
? Indifferent
? Unhelpful
? Difficult
? Arsonist ? start fires (rumours) that you have to put out
? Narcissist
? Meddler
? Often has unsolvable personal problems

Preferred Environment

Muggers prefer an environment where communication from management to workers is not clear and regular.

They appear to gravitate to problems and problem people. Trouble and strife are their best friends.

They fill the vacuum of personal dissatisfaction by involving themselves with other individuals who are problematic and are not solution focused.

Modus Operandi

The mugger is an artful person weaving their craft while causing your business potential loss of clients and profit.

They are sometimes recognised as caring people but below the veneer of caring lies a self serving attitude that has nothing to do with genuine care.

Respectability is there armour but look closely and you will see the double way they live.

Involving themselves in others problems is really the sign of a busybody, without the being busy about your business.

Dealing with Muggers

Dealing with muggers takes time. Its time you must invest to protect your most valuable assets; your people and your business.

Take heart, take action, deal decisively!

Muggers are disempowered by clear management and worker communication. Clear communication of the foundation that disempowers the mugger! They prefer to live on the shade and not the light. Do some of the following

? Have regular meetings with your employees
? At the first sing of rumour or gossip find the source and confront it.
? Go to the mugger yourself and say their appears to be a problem
? If you are making changes in the workplace: communicate
? Update your employees by email weekly
? Have an open door policy and be approachable
? Build a team environment
? Have a zero tolerance for gossip
? Build trust in your people
? Be genuine
? Take time for people

Muggers have no place in your business. Take action today. For other helpful articles visit www.biz-momentum.com

Philip Lye is te founder of Biz Momentum providng strategic human resource management to assist your business grow. he is an expert in Worplace Conflict and provides practical solutions to this troubling phenomenon.

Prior to starting Biz Momentum Philip weas CEO and CFO of several companies. Visit http://www.biz-momentum.com for further information.

In The News:

pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


The Power in Praising People

One of the keys to success is to have successful... Read More

The New Five Truths of Employee Motivation

Motivation is a term that is so widely used, yet... Read More

The Silent Assassin - What to Do When They Visit You?

IntroductionThere are a group of people in the community that... Read More

Small Business Checking Accounts

ACCOUNTING AND BILLINGCHECK BOOKSWe recommend that you maintain a business... Read More

The Dripping Faucet in Every Organization

Each day millions of workers spend 8 hours or more... Read More

Einstein - Definition of Insanity

Insanity in the Sign & Graphics IndustryEinstein's DefinitionAlbert Einstein once... Read More

Taking Care of Middle Manager Bounce Off

How many times have the management consultants been 'in' and... Read More

The Measurement of Manager Training

THE MEASUREMENT OF TRAINING: Evaluation is one of the most... Read More

Make Change Easy - Get Involved!

There are wild variances in how much involvement organisations are... Read More

Medical Malpractice: Three Myths That Cost Your Hospital Millions

What's the use?Nothing you do will hold down the cost... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management: The Creative State

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Best Incentives are Free

This article relates to the Recognition competency, commonly evaluated in... Read More

Think Before You Talk

What you say to other people can make or break... Read More

Bosses Are Out ? Managers As Coaches Are In

There is a new trend taking hold in business today... Read More

Innovation Management ? Selecting Good Ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Manage Your Time - Save Your Business.

If you work from home, chances are you already know... Read More

Accountability Equals Meeting Success

Leslie was the new manager of the group. She was... Read More

The Art of Motivation and Need Fulfillment

Industrial/clinical psychology and applied psychiatry have made tremendous strides in... Read More

Ten Relationship Traits And Skills For Good Leadership

An important aspect of good leadership is the ability to... Read More

Rethinking the CEO-Chairman Split

Traditionally, in American businesses, the same person occupies the role... Read More

Organizational Culture, Creativity, Innovation

It can be concluded with great certainty that certain organizational... Read More

Knowledge Management: More Than Just Know-how!

People sometimes interchange the terms "know-how" and "knowledge", but there's... Read More

Time Management - How to Have Productive Meetings

One of the greatest time wasters of all are unnecessary... Read More

Sarbanes-Oxley and Section 404: Old Dog, New Teeth

The failures we have seen in the quality and integrity... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Competitive, Not Complementary Action

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Inspirational Power ( Part 1 )

The Fundamentals of Strategic Marketing, Some Key Traits for Greater... Read More

How to Get Your Procedures Project Done

Wouldn't it be nice for business owners and executives to... Read More

Hiring Your First Business Personal Assistant: Some Guidelines for Successful Hiring

Hiring the first personal business assistant is an exciting time... Read More

Give Yourself a Boss? Day Gift

Become a better boss and reap the benefitsAnother interesting study... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Enhance the Motivational Climate of the Workplace

It has been well documented that employees' productivity and job... Read More

The 10 Realities of Change

I've seen several articles that begin with lines like "the... Read More

How to Dodge Distribution Difficulties

It happened again. I ran into an old friend while... Read More

Turn Your Speech Into A Leadership Talk

My experience working with thousands of leaders world wide for... Read More