The Gossip – Branding Connect

A typical scene at the corner basement room in a hospital- A small group of staff members have gathered at the table meant for having their daily lunch bite. Along with sharing the food they also share current ‘affairs’ and news around their workplace. Characters are scrutinized, sometimes even assassinated; bosses are evaluated on rather stringent personal parameters; and management’s report card is unofficially prepared. Result- Everyone re-discovers a common thread that unites them all, apart from food.

Small talk about others, more directly called-‘Gossip’, gives an instant gratification to the people involved in it. This phenomenon can be equated with a small skin itch that gives a peculiar pleasure when one indulges in scratching it. It is indeed a good feeling, till you realize that the more you scratch the more it spreads.

Its inherent in our nature as human beings to derive joy by pulling someone down, in agreement with others, without that person ever finding out. But to what effect?

Oxford dictionary describes gossip as –
‘informal talk or stories about other people’s private lives that may be unkind or not true.’

Gossip is like termite. It unnoticeably eats away the inherent character of an organization. It works overtime and finally annihilates the very morale on which great institutions are built.
What’s the connection between brand and gossip? Well connection there is, and a deep one. Perhaps deeper than you have ever imagined.

Here is how it harms the brand-

Creating a brand for a hospital, or for any organization for that matter, germinates from an inherent set of values that form the brand essence. These values are then extrapolated and brand attributes and associations are created.

Now, in a complex hospital scenario, it is highly desirable that the brand is expressed in all verbal as well as non verbal business communications. If your staff is bound together with the value system that represents the brand, and is genuinely inspired by them, you will succeed in delivering a customer experience consistent to what you had promised. Instead if they are bound by worthless gossip, the brand is doomed.

People when consumed by idle talk about others go back to their work stations not ‘being’ the brand that they represent, but ‘being’ at the effect of the talk they just had. Their relationship with the person that they spoke about has been altered forever and they don’t even realize it. Gossip is at play even when it is not happening.

The boss who was talked about will find it difficult to get things done from the same set of people who spoke about him behind his back. Similarly, the same set of people will also not find it easy to respect his command. The saying- ‘repeat a lie a hundred times and becomes the truth’ is at full play wherever gossip exists.

On the other end, the customer [patient or his relative] is not dealing with Rashmi or Shekhar or Venkat, the individual. They are dealing with the XYZ hospital. What is critical to get is that your employee is the brand. And what is more critical is that your employee really gets that he/she is the brand. In such a scenario, a gossip infected individual is the last person you would want your customer to go to.

In short, the common thread of values and culture that binds your employees together gets diluted with gossip, thus diluting the brand.

Gossip Centres

A secondary care hospital in Bangalore decided to put an end to gossip. The management had realized that brand was being eaten up slowly by the termite called gossip.

As we started looking closely, we found out that there were a few breeding grounds that were aiding cheap talk. The following list is an indication of the likely places where this worthless and potently dangerous chatter happens. You will observe that these places are not where actual work happens and they are infrequently visited by the management and customers.

• Lunch/staff rooms
• Water coolers
• CT and MRI consoles
• Staff parking lots
• Under construction areas
• Any corner in the campus where a quick smoke is allowed
• Staff buses
• Canteen • Nursing Stations

Symptoms of Gossip

Cancer if not detected early, can create havoc with a human body. To extent that a person may even lose his life. Gossip is no different. Some symptoms of gossip are

• Absenteeism
• Same group of staff is visible chattering at various locations frequently
• Prolonged bickering amongst two departments or individuals
• Canteen tables occupied by staff for long periods
• Cigarette butts at a particular location at the end of everyday’s work
• People coming back late from breaks consistently
• Increase in the attrition rate for no visible reason

Curtailing Gossip

‘Nip in the bud’ is the phrase.

• Find the gossip mongers and restore them back to the organizational cause
• Put posters, even cameras at gossip centres [sample poster attached at the bottom]
• Have trainings where mocks about how gossip spreads are conducted
• Have a no gossip policy
• Most important- Have a clearly defined vision and a set of core values with which people can actually identify and which actually inspires them.

On a parting note, let us solemnly align to the fact that some talk is cheap and the cheap talk cheapen the purpose of an organization’s existence. Let’s kill the cancer.

This article has been published in Express  Healthcare - www.expresshealthcare.in