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LEADERSHIPTRANSITIONSHowtoTalkAboutOfficePoliticswithaNewColleaguebyKarenDillonJUNE17,2016John was just a few days into a new job when he found himself on a 40-minute car ride to an off-site meeting with one of his new colleagues,Chris(names have been changed).As the newbie,John was eager to make a good impression and worried about maintaining chit-chat.Chris,whohad been at the company for over a decade,not so much.HowtoTalkAboutOfficePoliticswithaNewColleagueFor nearly the entire ride,Chris gave John his unfettered opinion of everyone in the office.“Imean everyone from the secretaries to the top leaders,including telling me that he thought theoffice manager should be fired,”John recalls now.He remained mostly silent as his colleague heldforth,but he silently panicked about what he was hearing.It wasnt too long before John figured out that Chris was trying to recruit him to his“camp”ininternecine office politics and from that conversation on,John was on guard not trusting someof his other new colleagues and being careful what he said about the loquacious veteran.In theend,John says,Chris“actually helped me avoid some landmines,”but it was a rattling start to thenew position.I once was in Chriss shoes and gave a new colleague my off-the-record advice on how to survivea difficult manager.But as soon as I left his office,I immediately worried that Id been indiscreet,making myself vulnerable in the process.Luckily,my new colleague turned out to be atrustworthy guy and he appreciated my unofficial insight.But having done it myself,I wonderedif it ever makes sense to risk indoctrinating a new colleague,even when you have goodintentions?Yes,says Judith White,visiting professor at Tuck School at Dartmouth:in certain situations.“Ifits part of socialization,thats a helpful thing,”she says,for example when,in the first episode of“Mad Men,”Joan gives new hire Peggy the unofficial guide to succeeding at Sterling Cooper,“shewas setting her up to succeed,not just for herself,but for the organization,White explains.So how do you know if you should bend the new hires ear to provide inside scoop on officepolitics?First,check your motives.“If somebody is helping you learn the unspoken and unwritten normsof the organization in order for you to function more effectively,thats a good thing,”says White.But that same instinct to help a colleague can become dangerous if youre trying to recruitsomeone to your unofficial culture,like Chris was.Ben Dattner,an executive coach andorganizational development consultant,says that if“youre helping them to be more effective,not stumble into traps or break taboos”then go ahead.“The goal is to make life easier for them.”HowtoTalkAboutOfficePoliticswithaNewColleagueEven if your intentions are positive,you also have to respect boundaries and be aware of how yousharing the information reflects on you.Janet(also not her real name)faced a similar situationwhen she changed jobs well into her career.She wasnt a“newbie”so she was surprised when anew colleague just gave her an earful of all the personal lives and backstories of their work group.Rather than feeling informed,it made her wary about the new colleague with the loose lips.“Idont trust this co-worker,”she says now.“I dont share much personal information with herbecause Im sure if I did,it would be shared with others.I just try to keep things light andfriendly.”This didnt turn out well for Janet or the embittered veteran.John says he felt similarwhen he was listening to Chriss diatribe:“I was a brand new guy and I kept wondering,Why ishe telling me all this?He doesnt even know me.”Keep in mind that whatever you say to yournew colleague will reflect on you,and perhaps negatively.Thats not to say that sharing gossip is always destructive to a work environment.In fact,almosteveryone does it in one form or another,according to Giuseppe Labianca,a professor ofManagement at University of Kentucky.“Gossip can be very helpful to people in organizations,especially when the flow of information from the top gets choked off,as often happens whencompanies are in crisis or undergoing change,”Labianca said about his research in a 2010 article,“Its Not Unprofessional to Gossip at Work.”“If a few people know whats really going on,gossipbecomes the means of spreading that information to everyone else.Whats more,research showsthat gossip often reduces individuals anxiety and helps them cope with uncertainty.”Still Labianca warns that being known as a gossiper can hurt your career.We know thatmanagers consider gossip to be subversive.And it is.Not only do managers tend to assume thatany gossip is negative,he said,they also tend to give employees known to gossip lower ratings.Lastly,consider whether what you say could come back and bite you later.“If its informationthat everybody who works there already knows,thats fine.But if its sharing privilegedinformation,thats not a good thing,”says White.You dont know what your new colleague mighttell others,exposing you and possibly damaging your reputation.Dattner suggests a simple ruleto follow when walking the line between helping out your new colleague and undermining youboth:“Do it as if everybody was listening.”KarenDillonKarenDillonistheformereditorofHarvardBusinessReviewandacoauthoroftheforthcomingCompetingAgainstLuck:TheStoryofInnovationandCustomerChoice(HarperBusiness/HarperCollins,October2016).RelatedTopics:COLLABORATION|COMMUNICATIONThisarticleisaboutLEADERSHIPTRANSITIONSFOLLOWTHISTOPICCommentsLeaveaCommentPOSTREPLY003COMMENTSMadhavanKayambu2monthsagoVerygoodarticle,Normallyiwillwatchmynewcolleagueforsometimeafterunderstandinghis/hercharacteronlywillshareinfo.Gossiphelpustogetmoreinformationinofflinemodewhileinformalmodepeoplemaybedeniedsomekeyinfo.Aslongaswehavepositiveintentionandgossipingfilteredcontent(asperyourarticle)willhelptobuildthenetwork.POSTINGGUIDELINESWehopetheconversationsthattakeplaceonHBR.orgwillbeenergetic,constructive,andthought-provoking.Tocomment,readersmustsigninorregister.Andtoensurethequalityofthediscussion,ourmoderatingteamwillreviewallcommentsandmayeditthemforclarity,length,andrelevance.Commentsthatareoverlypromotional,mean-spirited,oroff-topicmaybedeletedperthemoderatorsjudgment.AllpostingsbecomethepropertyofHarvardBusinessPublishing.JOINTHECONVERSATION