The secretary, Gemma, leaned in and said, "Boss, there's something you should know."

Mark looked around and drew in closer to her. It seemed like there was a good secret coming.

Gemma said, "Brad and Tamara have been in Brad's office a long time, and both their teams are down in the auditorium doing mandatory training."

Mark hadn't seen Brad and Tamara together that often. Brad was a married man with two children at home. Tamara was single. They were both attractive people. Mark thought that they were generally professional too, but maybe he missed their relationship.

Mark asked Gemma, "Has something been going on for a while now? Did I miss something?"

Gemma nodded. She said, " You know Brad's wife is the jealous type too. If she walked in here and saw the. together, that'd be their marriage. Over. Poof."

Mark didn't like gossip. He was the leader of the teams, but he hated having to deal with matters of the heart at work. Yet he'd seen work-relationships hurt the business before. Plus, Mark was married himself and he knew he'd want someone to step in of it were his wife and someone else at her job getting a "bit too close". Also, Mark was a veteran and in the military adultery is actually a crime punishable by jail time. Out here in the civilian world, things were different but there were company policies in place here too. Besides, who knew if the gossip was anything to worry about, right?

Mark thanked Gemma for bringing the rumor to his attention. It showed that at least she believed in his leadership skills and that he'd know what to do. Funny enough the thing that made Mark most annoyed was not that there might be something going on between them, but that they had left their teams in training, and were not being very responsible team leaders. As a seasoned leader, Mark knew that this was a potential crisis waiting to happen although it wasn't just yet. He had to do something that got their attention but let them know that he was not against them, he was actually working to help them.

Mark put his things down in his office. He walked over to Brad's office and knocked on the closed door.

Brad came to the door. "Hey Mark, what's up?"

"I'm going to need you and Tamara to come to my office now. We need to have a chat."

"What about?", Brad asked.

"It's important", Mark said, and he started walking to his office.

Brad and Tamara came into Mark's office and closed the door behind them. Mark motioned for them to sit in the chairs in front of his desk. Mark came around to the front of his desk between them and faced them. He looked them both in the eye and said, "So, I've heard a rumour and I hate rumors because they can be completely wrong. We're going to clear it up and then we're going to fix what needs to be fixed."

Brad and Tamara looked at each other and squirmed in their seats a bit. They listened carefully.

"I don't want trouble here among the team. It seems that the rumors are that you both are having a romantic fling of some kind and I don't have to remind you of the company's policy on company relationships, but to make it worse , if it's true then Brad's commiting adultery as well."

Brad and Tamara's jaws dropped. Brad started to stammer a bit in denial.

Mark stopped them. "If there is something going on, it stops today. Whether the rumor is true or not is not what I brought you here to discuss. I really just want you to be aware that the actions you have done today, like abandoning your teams during their training and meeting behind closed doors for more than 30 minutes or so have led to these rumors. You're team leaders here and how effective do you think you'll be with your team if they think you're having an affair?"

Brad piped up, "There's no affair, and it's really surprising to know that people around here could come up with and spread a rumor like that behind our backs!"

"Don't defend yourself. I'm not accusing you of it, and it won't be reported. You have to change your behaviors though. Many times perception is as or more terrible than reality, and neither of you need that among your teams. Better still, think about how I have to now correct you because you can't do the right thing and be where you should be right now - with your teams, " Mark said.

Brad and Tamara looked at each other. They seemed a little shocked still, but they realized they were not defending their jobs or anything, and they knew Mark was right. They should be doing the training with their teams. Mark had always trained his team leaders to "Be the example" like they'd taught him in the Army. Tamara spoke , "Mark, we're sorry we put you in this position. It's a dumb rumor, but we see how we maybe let it become a rumor. We'll make better choices."

Mark said, "Thank you, I'm glad we're all on the same page. " With a little laugh, he added, "Now go to training!"

Brad and Tamara made a small laugh too, and went on their way.

Crisis averted.



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