In response to your peers, consider similarities and differences from your initial post and provide recommendations for tools and techniques to leverage positive impacts of side conversations. Remember to cite your resources.

Side conversations can be both beneficial and harmful depending on how they are utilized. I work in a medical office and side conversations occur almost daily. Some of these side conversations are very beneficial and very important to the business while some of the conversations are harmful to the working environment. The first challenge of side conversations is that some individuals will have incomplete information $($Gardner & Peterson, $2019).$ In the medical office, some of the doctors may have a side conversation regarding the practice. This can be problematic because the other doctors may feel left out or may find out the information that was discussed later on and feel that they did not get to contribute to the conversation. Conversations that are discussing big changes should not be conducted in an informal way through a side conversation to avoid confusion and distrust. Additionally, side conversations in the medical office can be $$vulnerable to biases$($Gardner & Peterson, $2019).$ We have a head doctor who gets to make the final say on big changes. However, he seems to know where most of the other doctors would stand on certain matters. Therefore, he will have side conversations with those most likely to be in favor of the new ideas first. This would create more of a bias when he does present it to the group.

Side conversations can be beneficial in some situations in the medical office. The office is very busy and each doctor has a different schedule. It can be very difficult to get all employees together to discuss every issue that arises. Side conversations are sometimes utilized to address smaller matters such as job specific tasks that need to be corrected. For example, if there have been discrepancies in scheduling, the front desk may have a side conversation to clarify any issues that may have arisen. This allows an issue to be addressed quickly to avoid further discrepancies and does not need all employees present to discuss this matter. Another side conversation that may be conducted is two doctors discussing a case. The two doctors are able to have a side conversation to discuss their mutual patient but this does not necessarily need a formal meeting with all staff members as it does not concern all of them.