Managing Political Fear in the Workplace
How do you help your team navigate their professional responsibilities while processing deeply concerning (read: abjectly terrifying) political developments?
It’s impossible to compartmentalize in our fully connected world. So how do we help our teams find balance?
I wish I didn’t have so much experience in helping my team manage social and political upheaval, but I’ve been alive and leading an organization these past ten years. Every day I wish I’d had more tools and resources ten years ago, because I made a lot of mistakes and really failed people in some cases.
Now, we have some (hard won) practices at Seed&Spark and Film Forward that make space for the rollercoaster of emotions and the stark new political realities that in many cases almost immediately impact our team members in some way.
1. First, acknowledge reality. We don't leave our humanity at the door when we come to work. When people are worried about their safety or the safety of their loved ones, pretending everything is "business as usual" only increases anxiety and erodes trust.
2. As a remote team, we acknowledge that we also may be feeling things very differently based on where we are. We may have to make space for certain team members who are, for example, living in the middle of a climate disaster one week and others who live near an active shooting the next week. This is the world we live in. So we do a “red yellow green” check in at the top of each meeting - everyone can state how they are showing up. And we can adapt how we are resourcing certain priorities (or just how much moral and professional support we are providing our colleagues) using that information. It builds trust and support in a team that rarely sees each other in person.
3. Make space (as in: PAID TIME OFF) for mental health needs and civic action. I put these in the same bucket because often civic action is a mental health support action as well: it keeps people connected to community and purpose. Is there really a meeting that is more important than people going out to fight for a better future?
4. Don’t shut down conversations about how hard this is. It’s perfectly reasonable to feel like showing up to work in most jobs is playing violins on the titanic. If people can’t feel validated for their fears they will not be able to locate their purpose in your workplace.
5. Don’t bury your head in the sand about business realities or infantilize your team. This is the time to triple-down on transparency and give everyone the context they need to make grown up decisions.
The only way out is through, together.
