gossip

Gossip is Roller Derby Poison

Back in 2007 when I was setting up policies for the Santa Cruz Rollergirls, we spent a lot of time on our SCRG Code of Conduct. Several members brought together various ideas and we ended up with a pretty good Code… Sadly, it was not good enough.

One thing that I tried to implement into the code was a message about that dreadful dirty word… Gossip. I have always believed that in any organization gossip can be blamed for the majority of dissatisfaction and unrest, distrust, and attrition (turnover rates). Not to mention gossip is without a doubt a killer of all the fun that being a part of roller derby can offer.

Why Do Girls Gossip Like Little Bitches?

Gossip is obviously a lose-lose for the person being gossiped about. So, what about the gossipers? What those toxic little brats don’t realize… they are a total douchebags and no one really trusts them. Gossipers are insecure people that are often gossiping to try to fit in or pit people against each other to elevate themselves in some way.

The thing is, gossip is really hard to fight. Not impossible, but difficult. However, eliminating gossip IS impossible if your league does not address gossip in a very specific way in your policies. Like Granny Yo used to say, “If you don’t deal with it, it’ll deal with you.” In this case, that is just a general way of saying… Have the friggin GUTS to address issues that will have a huge impact on your organization’s success if your treatment of those issues is insufficient. Grow some balls.

When we were writing our Code, my suggestion of adding a “Gossip Clause” was sort of laughed at. “You can’t control gossip.” “It’s a waste of time.” I knew they were wrong, I just didn’t know exactly how to make it stick. Bitches be trifling sometimes!

Be a Champion and Change Your Policy

In an article in last week’s Sunday New York Times, a manager explains her company’s gossip policy. The article is entitled, Workplace Gossip, Keep it to Yourself, and the idea is simple and brilliant. Each employee signs the company’s “agreement to values” form, which details the no-tolerance values and culture of the organization. The author believes it really works:

"It appears to me as if everyone has bought into the mind-set. If we ever sense that someone might be gossiping, we call that person out and say, 'You need to go to the source if you have a question.'"

Just as many of us have probably seen in your team or league, gossip promotes immeasurable negativity. Negativity does squat for your overall experience in derby, not to mention teamwork.

If I could do it all over again, I would push harder for a no tolerance-style policy in SCRG’s Code of Conduct. But, hey.. email me and I’ll gladly send you a PDF of the latest draft of the SCRG Code of Conduct. That combined with the above article can make a huge difference for your team or league.