Don't let political conflict impact professional conduct.
Kathleen Kauth
Mediator and conflict coach working with organizations and individuals to untangle conflicts that impact the work environment - Save time, energy and money.
Politics at Work
Having a work environment that is open and positive is a difficult state to achieve. Understanding how to maintain a positive, professional work atmosphere is important for an organizations’ productivity. This balance is delicate, and can be affected by outside forces. One such force in today’s environment is political conflict.
Liberal or conservative? Democrat or Republican? Independent??? No matter which side of the aisle you feel more comfortable, the state of American politics today is intense. While politics have always been sources of conflicts, in today’s world of social media and constant information streaming at us, it can be very difficult to set politics aside and actually get work done. So how do you deal with employees who are engaged in conflict because of their differing political viewpoints?
Guidelines
Here are some guidelines for handling politics at work:
1. Consistency: Have a consistent policy applied to everyone. If political discussions are allowed at all, they should be done only on break time, not company time.
2. Expect respect. Any conversations between employees, whether about politics or not, need to be respectful. Management needs to state that clearly, and set themselves as an example.
3. Agree to disagree: Make sure everyone understands that disagreeing with others’ points of view is acceptable, but being punitive to those whom you disagree with is not. Things that might be considered punitive could be not working with someone you don’t agree with, withholding information about projects, not evaluating a person on their work, but rather their beliefs, etc.
4. Immediacy: Gossip, negativity and disrespect toward others who don’t share the same viewpoints must be addressed specifically and immediately.
5. Outside help: If an environment is extremely toxic because of politics, a mediator may need to be brought in to address issues with specific individuals or teams. Mediators are unbiased individuals who can work with the parties involved to set aside conflicts and enable them to do their work.
Above all - address these issues quickly and directly. This is the type of conflict that can simmer and become exacerbated due to outside influences, and will have a significant negative impact on an organizations’ productivity.