Speak well of coworkers when they’re not around. It travels back faster than gossip.

Praise travels faster than criticism, because people enjoy delivering it and take no risk in passing it on. What you said about someone in their absence usually reaches them eventually, in a version slightly better or worse than the original. Being the source of the good one costs nothing and changes how a whole workplace handles you. Gossip does the same thing in reverse, at the same speed.

Say one genuinely positive and specific thing about a colleague to somebody else this week. Make sure it is true. Do not do it strategically, because that shows as well.