When Drama Invades Your Team: Strategies for Restoring Workplace Harmony

The staff room goes quiet when you walk in. Not once. Not twice. Every single time. The knot in your stomach tightens. Something's wrong with your team, but nobody's telling you what. And somehow, despite being the owner, you're the last person to find out there's a problem.

Anna and Kendall dive into one of the most uncomfortable aspects of practice ownership: navigating team drama, gossip, and toxicity. Drawing from their own painful experiences, they offer both practical strategies and emotional validation for leaders dealing with fractured team dynamics.

The episode opens with a fundamental challenge: practice owners are structurally positioned to be the last to know when problems emerge. As Anna explains: "Part of being leaders is that we have deliberately, or we should have some boundaries in place that prevent us from being in the midst of things, in the break room where things often are being discussed. And unfortunately, we are often the last to know."

This isolation creates a catch-22. Boundaries protect leaders from getting too enmeshed in team dynamics, but those same boundaries create blind spots where problems can grow unchecked. The solution? Intentional communication systems, not snooping. As Kendall emphasizes: "It's not about snooping. I think for me what I've learned is that it's creating enough of the right opportunities for communication."

But what does that actually look like? Both hosts advocate for direct questions during check-ins—questions many leaders avoid because they fear planting ideas. Kendall shares one she's learned to ask: "Is there anything going on with the team or the company that you're upset about and that, if we don't resolve, would lead you to leave the company?" As Anna notes: "Let's be clear, bringing up the idea of leaving a company in a question context is not going to lead someone to leave the company."

Yet even with perfect systems, some drama still happens. Kendall shares a crucial discovery from a particularly difficult period: "I thought there was one or two people in that group that were causing some drama... but then I realized it didn't actually start with them. It started with someone in leadership, which is a gigantic problem." This revelation underscores how toxicity in leadership positions creates permission for dysfunction throughout the team.

The conversation addresses the emotional dimension often missing from business advice. Anna describes a particularly painful experience: "Every time I walked into the staff room, it got quiet... And I was internalizing it. Like, they're definitely gossiping about me. This is not a good sign." Her vulnerability in sharing how this affected her decision-making—becoming defensive, refusing to return to the staff room, questioning why she should support her team—will resonate with any leader who's felt this isolation.

Kendall admits her own trigger: "When someone's been talking behind the scenes and making up some story about me and my decisions, I go right back to middle school, high school... it makes me so sad, and it makes me feel really out of control." This honest acknowledgment of how team drama activates old wounds offers important validation.

The episode also tackles the challenge of distinguishing harmful gossip from normal human connection. Anna raises an important nuance: "There are certain personality types that to find commonality, tend to overstate the negativity... and how do you distinguish that from true negativity?" Kendall's response involves explicitly defining gossip with the team and connecting it back to shared values.

Perhaps most valuable is the acknowledgment that you can't control everything—and that sometimes the best solution is removing toxic team members, even longtime employees. As Kendall notes about these difficult decisions: "It doesn't always feel good to do the right thing... but the team does feel better... then you start realizing all the pieces that were connected to that person's behavior."

The episode concludes with a virtual hug for clinic owners navigating these challenges, acknowledging that when the world feels heavy, workplace conflicts intensify. If you've felt isolated by team drama or wondered whether the gossip will ever stop, this episode offers both practical tools and much-needed emotional support.

For information regarding the upcoming retreat, go to: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/retreats

Sponsored by Jane App, Jane offers online booking, charting, scheduling, secure video and invoicing on one secure, beautifully designed system: https://jane.app/ Use code wellness1mo for a one-month grace period on your new Jane account.

About Anna Rudel

Anna Rudel, L. Ac is the owner and founder of Lokahi Acupuncture Clinic in San Jose California, founded in 2003. Anna is a master organizer and clinician, and as a Coach she specializes in working with Clinic Owners in the state of California, and Acupuncturists and Acupuncture Clinic Owners, or groups wanting to add Acupuncture worldwide, as well as teams that need support with employee retention and satisfaction. Born in the UK, Anna has traveled extensively in Asia and now has a thriving multi-practitioner clinic in the US!

Anna's Website and Links

• Website: https://lokahiacupuncture.com/ 
• Learn Group Coaching: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/group-coaching
• For info about Individual Coaching: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/individual-coaching

About Kendall Hagensen

Kendall is a Somatic Mental Health Therapist, Multidisciplinary Clinic Owner and Business Coach. She specializes in, and is passionate about, working with healthcare professionals to create the businesses of their dreams. Big goals always have a psychological component beneath the surface, so Kendall uses her background in Somatic Psychotherapy and EMDR Therapy mixed with Business Coaching tools to help clients develop a healthy relationship with their business and their strength as a leader. 

As someone who lives with a chronic illness herself, Kendall feels that health happens best within community, which is why she takes a holistic, integrative, and collaborative wellness approach to her personal and professional life.

Kendall’s Web/Social Links

• Website: http://www.vancouverwellnessstudio.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WellnessCenterCreators
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesscentercreators/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wellness-center-creators/