Election 2022 - A Leaders Guide to Survive Election Day in your Office
A Leaders Guide to Survive Election Day in your Office
McGeachy Consulting, LLC
How to Survive Election Day in Your Office
In the workplace, you cannot tell team members or employees how to think but you can set boundaries to tell people how to behave. As we approach election day 2022, it’s good to set expectations of how to behave in the workplace regarding elections, politics, or other divisive topics.
These tactics might help your small or mid-sized company fair better this election season.
Send this email
Happy Election Day/Season! It’s your awesome right to vote. You are free to discuss politics with your coworkers so long as it does not disrupt our intense focus on (our clients/our project/our customers). A discussion is just that, a friendly dialog among coworkers. Please notice that if your heart begins to pound, your voice gets loud, you might be debating politics and that is strictly off-limits. Debates are meant to find a winner and a loser and there is no place for that in our workplace. Today and in the weeks ahead, tread lightly, be kind, and assume that your coworkers have the best intentions.
You are equally free to refrain from talking politics, elections, etc. This is 100% your choice. If you prefer not to talk about with coworkers about these delicate topics, speak up and simply tell them. If a co-worker is unruly about the election or politics, please tell a manager.
Managing unruly teammates
Q. If an employee becomes unruly, boisterous, or is debating everyone in the workplace, what should I do?
A. As their manager, you should send them home. Not as a punishment but as a win-win for the employee who is obviously unhappy at work and for the coworkers who are tired of hearing the political rhetoric from their teammate.
Q. What if the employee is not in the office and this is coming across via Zoom, email, and group chats?
A. It’s time for a one-to-one conversation with the employee. The conversation could go something like this, “I’d like to talk to you about your need to debate politics (divisive topics) with your coworkers. I’ve noticed that many team members have opted out of projects, skip Zoom meetings where you will be participating, and they have even shared that they are simply tired of your ongoing political discussions and slights. The impact for you is that you’re missing out on opportunities to work with some of our best designers on projects. I’m worried this will have a long-term impact on your career and promotional status.’ Ask the employee their perception of the situation and then be ready to make a suggestion.
‘Would you be willing to halt your divisive discussions at work to prevent further damage to your reputation?’
Then build agreements and accountability to ensure that the employee sticks to their plan.
If the team member objects to a change in behavior, you may need to move to a disciplinary mode but let’s hope that they care more about their own career than their need to talk politics at work.
*This dialog format is from Candid Culture’s Eight-Step Feedback Formula.
Coloring helps with stress and anxiety (share these!)
Coloring helps with stress and anxiety. Perhaps share these coloring pages with your team to help calm the workplace...Van Gogh Starry Night, a mandala, dutch landscape, or this pop culture piece. A nice coloring contest might help shift the focus this week to a friendly interoffice competition.
Collaboratively Set Ground Rules
As a team, develop clear ground rules for this season. Once these are set, share them and hold each other accountable to these rules.
To set ground rules, start by brainstorming with the team. They truly has the best answers for what they think will establish a healthy culture. Then let the team vote on the top 3 or 5 rules so that they are narrowed down. This also helps the team gain alignment with the rules. I strongly suggest the manager maintains control over the final ground rules. To do this, during this meeting the team develops a draft, and the manager will finalize the rules and share (after the meeting).
In person, this looks like drafting the rules during a brainstorm on a flip chart, then letting each individual team member vote for their top, say, 3. The rules with the most votes, the most favored, would be the rules the manager will use as their draft.
Via Zoom, you can brainstorm rules using a collaborative Google Doc. Then either vote using a Poll in Zoom, or have individuals add their name to the end of the 3 rules they are voting for. A Zoom Poll is anonymous whereas the Google Doc option is nonanonymous. Your choice.
Remember your why
In your business, you are here to provide the most amazing ___________ (fill in the blank with your thing). Politics, religion, social movements, nor pandemics can stop you from focusing 100% on being the best agency, financial planning firm, nonprofit, publisher, restaurant, etc. Get back to your WHY, remind employees why you’re in business, and let the previously mentioned hot topics shed from the conversation. Let all of your collective energy flow into the why.
Thinking of small and mid-sized businesses everywhere, and especially my clients, and hoping for calm, zen, and kindness in your workplaces today, and in the weeks to come. Good luck!