Last month, one of my engineers resigned. Within 48 hours, I heard three different versions of why they left → poor performance, salary dispute, conflict with leadership.
None of them were true.
But here’s the thing:
I couldn’t correct any of it. Not without betraying confidentiality.
This is the trap every manager walks into. Someone leaves, and in the information vacuum, your team writes their own story. And that story is almost never accurate or helpful.
You have two obvious options. Both are wrong:
- Option 1: Say nothing. Let rumors fester. Watch trust erode as people fill silence with worst-case scenarios. Your team starts wondering what you’re hiding.
- Option 2: Break confidentiality. Set the record straight. Explain the real reasons. Except now you’ve shown everyone that private conversations with you aren’t actually private.
There’s a third path:
Stop explaining the past. Start communicating the future.
The day after my engineer announced their departure, I called a team meeting. I didn’t address the rumors. I didn’t explain why they left. Instead, I laid out exactly what happens next.
Who takes over their projects. How we redistribute responsibilities. What our hiring timeline looks like. What this means for our Q3 goals.
I gave the team something concrete to focus on → a clear plan forward.
The rumors didn’t disappear overnight. But they starved. There was nothing left to speculate about because everyone knew what was coming next.
People don’t gossip because they’re malicious. They gossip because uncertainty is uncomfortable.
Your job isn't to correct false narratives. Your job is to replace uncertainty with clarity.
You can’t control what stories people tell about the past. But you can give them a better story about the future.