Keep Politics Out of the Workplace

Singapore has set September 11 as its Election Day, and as posters are being hung and rallies are being held, at least we know it will be over in a week and a half (so much cleaner than the spectacle going on in the US right now). Other countries around the region are undergoing big political discussions right now as well, from rallies this past weekend in Malaysia to the upcoming release of the draft constitution for Thailand. As all these processes move forward, political conversations in your organisation may be reaching a boiling point. Politics can provide the basis for some very spirited discussions, and that can be a good thing for people who ideally are seeking out new perspectives and broadening their horizons. Politics, however, can be a very emotional subject. An awful lot of people are not too interested in simply sharing ideas, but instead are trying to convince others to accept their own strongly-held views. This sets the stage for some potentially loud and ugly confrontations, which could even disrupt working relationships. You don’t need that.

What to do? Well, simply telling employees they cannot discuss politics is not really going to work. There may be some legal issues there to consider, and it is not the most ethical thing, either. Plus, you will just end up creating the very tension you are trying to avoid. No, you are just going to have to resort to leadership.

Leading by example would be a good start. Try not to start political discussions yourself. It can be tough, but really, isn’t that something best left to the non-workplace? As a leader you run a particular risk because you have a lot of power over your employees, and the last thing you want is to look like you are using that power to bully or intimidate. Not good, and totally disruptive to your relationships.

If you find yourself in a discussion you do not need to be in, it is OK to change the subject. It’s easy to go from talking about a political rally to talking about the traffic problems caused by the political rally, and now BOOM…you are talking about something that everyone can agree on: traffic is always bad. The idea is to move away from a topic that can cause a lot of heated disagreement, especially if you can see things turning ugly.

But if you are too late, if things have gotten bad between people, you need to fix it. It is bad enough to have bad blood develop between your employees, but when it is over something dumb like politics as opposed to, say, creative differences on the job, that’s even worse. It is a little tougher to fix because it’s not like there is some sort of compromise position you can negotiate. You are just going to have to try to smooth out some ruffled feathers.

If this all sounds like no big deal, believe me, it can be. More than once I have had co-workers who sit in cubicles next to each other, and who will NOT talk to each other because of political differences (especially when I was living in Washington DC, where arguing about politics seems to be as important as breathing). This is awkward for everyone around — especially me, since I have to walk between them to get out — and when people are supposed to be collaborating it will affecting their work and others’. Frankly, politics seem to be best saved for the voting booth.