Conflict: are You on or Off the Court?
Gossip in the office or business deals; most people have had experience with it but rarely know how to look at things logically without adding fuel to the fire and becoming emotionally involved. An office or partnership can become divided from people taking sides and listening through the grape vine about the events leading up to the mess. I’ve seen friendships fall apart, business deals break, and integrity lost; all over a simple game of “telephone” we used to play back in our elementary school days.
So how do you keep the peace and avoid these “playground games”? The key is to ask, “Am I on or off the court?”
Imagine a tennis court. You have two players on the court in the middle of a match (players A & B); each of them hitting the ball back and forth. Then you have the stands from which the crowd is cheering; whether it be good or bad. Suppose, one of the players (A) missed the ball during the match causing him to lose the game; various things from the stands could be heard as a result such as:
“Player A is terrible!”
“Great hit, nicely done player B!”
“What a waste of a game this was.”