217: Stop Gossip Killing Your Transformation

Gossip and rumours about the latest change initiative has the power to derail any transformation. It wastes time. It divides opinion and direction. And it means that fact and fiction gets quickly muddled and confused. In this episode, Oliver Banks explores why you need to tackle the “rumour mill” for your transformation and what to do about it.

Listen to this episode to hear:

• How gossip, hearsay and rumours can push your transformation off course.
• Why rumours are created in the first place
• And how they develop and evolve by themselves.
• 6 ways you can tackle the rumour mill in your transformation.

Emotional cycle of change

When looking to understand rumour, it’s important to consider John Fisher’s change curve. Also known as the emotional cycle of change.

This describes the emotions that we all feel when change is imposed upon us. The challenge is how to manage this and how we can prompt the move between the different feelings to quickly get to the acceptance stage. And also how other people can help support and move people along the change curve too.

Additional podcast episodes to listen to

During this episode, there were some other episodes mentioned. Firstly, in episode 213: Effective Change Is About People, Simon Costigan shared his experience of delivering change. Importantly, Simon discusses the importance of a period of transition and allowing people to mourn the old ways of working.

Also, the episode with communications expert, Lucy Eckley, was referenced. Episode 209: Powerful Change Communication explores how you can help drive the adoption of your transformation. And in particular, the comment that Lucy makes about change being a two-way interaction was a key golden nugget takeaway.

Also, listen out to mindset coach, Steph Tranter in episode 57: Building Your Emotional Resilience (part 1) and episode 58: (part 2). This is a great episode to learn to overcome the various challenges that you or your team will experience.

Finally, if you are also finding that the rumour mill is causing you additional stress, then also listen to episode 182: Overcoming Stress With Science.