For girls, the life of high school is always divided into various segments depending on where they belonged in those years. If you were in the cheerleading squad you probably had it all. However, if you belonged to a group that was picked on by the cheerleaders, then you definitely had your share of mean girls and you definitely don’t need the same treatment in the office; kind of reliving the nightmare isn’t it.

You may find that the same kind of mean girls exist in your office too. If you do come across a person who is making snide remarks, being mean spirited, spreading rumors or sabotaging a fellow employee, it would serve you and your office immensely to take action and put a stop to their antics. Here are a few ways that you can apply not only to yourself but can have everyone in the office follow and hold them accountable for it.

• Building co-workers up, not tearing them down – make people understand that when they tear co-workers down they harm the work environment which in turn leads to less productivity. And we all know what less productivity means in this economic slump; layoffs.
• Make your colleagues inclusive not exclusive – whenever you plan out a team lunch, invite the entire team regardless of the feelings anyone harbors against the other. It’s not high school where you invited only your favorites or the popular ones.Remember that it feels great to be inside and terrible to be on the outside.
• If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything – the rule is as simple as it is mentioned. Don’t let yourself or any other make fun about how someone looks, dresses or talks.If you don’t like her, shut up; there is no point in getting someone else to hate her. Usually when someone is bad mouthing about a certain person, they are threatened or jealous of the person; hence the issue is about the person bad mouthing, not about whom it is bad mouthed.
• Being a team player – being a saboteur, not only hurts the person who is sabotaged but also hurts the person who lays the trap. If someone gets a drift of that person’s plan, that person may end up being isolated herself. On the contrary, one should be confident in herself and rather than resorting to cheap tricks should work on enhancing her own credentials.
• Say no to gossip – gossip doesn’t serve anyone and only does harm than good. Also, people know that if you gossip to them about someone else, you may gossip about them tomorrow to some other person. Hence the person only ends up building mistrust for herself. The remedy – refuse to gossip about someone and if someone is doing it, you can cleverly change the subject or just leave the conversation or you can boldly tell them not to talk such stuff.

Additionally, you can have your co-workers watch what they say in the workplace and maintain an ethical tone in their voice. Infuse integrity in the workplace and create such a picture of gossip that people don’t steer that way. This will not only enhance your workplace but also enforce your mentor skills.