Back in the 1980’s one of the biggest musical bands of the time was a group called Fleetwood Mac. They were great. One of their biggest albums of the time was an album called Rumours. It was a great album. However, from a business point of view “rumours”are no good.

 

Rumors are what occur when you do not communicate regularly with your team. They will invariably be worse than just about anything that reality can offer. If people are presented with a blank page, the story they write will be worse than the one you will tell them.

 

Once started rumors take on a life of their own. You only lend credence to them even when you deny or rebut them. It almost seems that people would prefer to believe the worst hearsay instead of the actual information – if they hear the rumor first.

 

The key is to get ahead of the curve. Regular team or all hands meetings enable everyone to hear what you have to say, and to get questions and concerns out of the way. It is more difficult for rumors to get started if everyone has the same level of information, and all heard it at the same time.

 

Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours wasgreat to listen to. All other rumors in the office shouldn’t be heard.