Keeping teams calm in turbulent times
Hello and welcome to Working It.
It’s been a busy week in the newsroom here at the FT: we’ve been covering the run-up to the UK general election plus concern over Joe Biden’s age and fitness to run as president in the US. The pressure on political leaders, and scrutiny of their personal lives, has never been more intense.
All leaders, it would be fair to say, are facing stressful times. Rana Foroohar’s FT column earlier this week highlighted that “politics is a top board-level concern these days”. Read on for expert advice on how to get through elections and political turmoil without fallout in your own workplace, and in Office Therapy, we hear from someone with a boss secretly on sick leave 🤫.
Heated politics and cool heads
There are rolling crises out there in the world, not to mention divisive elections in many countries. And people get angry — it’s on the rise, as we’ve discussed here before. That rage is often directed at strangers online, but also potentially at colleagues on Slack, in social posts — and also in that team meeting you convene every week.
Nearly half (44 per cent) of UK managers surveyed recently by the Chartered Management Institute said they had witnessed disagreements between colleagues on political views, causing a strain on relationships.
What’s a leader to do? And what tone should all of us adopt at work? The inclusion rhetoric of the past few years — “bring your whole self to work” — is laudable but has consequences: when I tried to cover this topic a while ago, the interviewee backed out. It was too controversial even to mention the fact that people have different views. Which sort of sums up the workplace at the moment 🤐.
So I turned to Ann Francke of the CMI, which carried out that survey on political disagreement. What, I wondered, is Ann telling her staff and membership about handling hot topics at work? The first thing is to keep everything at an individual, human level. “You have to respect people as individuals and their nuances as part of that. Let’s have a culture of that, of individuals. They are not tropes, they do not represent everyone within their faith or culture or their political party. Let’s not treat each other as if they do.”
The other big point is to communicate any policies you do have. Political activism is fine outside work but you may have rules (or may be introducing them) on what can and can’t be said and done at work. Then implement them fairly. Inconsistency erodes trust at a time when we need it more than ever.
Finally, Ann suggests a call to reinforce the common purpose of everyone in the workplace. “Let’s focus on the things we do agree on, which are germane to delivering what we have to deliver for the organisation. Focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us.”
This week on the Working It podcast
Do you know when it’s time to quit your job? Probably not. Humans have a strong bias towards loss aversion and the “sunk cost fallacy”: you’ve already invested a load of time and energy in this workplace. Why would another one be better? Annie Duke has spent years researching why people quit (or don’t) and knows how and when to make decisions. (She’s also a world-class poker player ♣️.)
In this week’s podcast episode, I talk to Annie about all the ways we quit — it can include firing a team member — and how to set deadlines on our fuzzy decision-making.
Office Therapy
The problem: Our boss has been out on sick leave [mental health/stress] for months. It is not “official” because they are resisting that label, the mental health part is a secret — and as far as the world is concerned, they are still leading the organisation. They aren't. The team can't operate properly. Everything is jammed up and the board is trying to get the CEO to resign or give us some idea of when they are back. As a mere employee, is there anything I can do? I am looking for other jobs. I'd like to message the board about the frustration — would that be career ruin?
Isabel’s advice: Your problem is surprisingly common at a time when so many leaders are burning out, secretly or otherwise. You might want to read this article from HTSI: a glimpse inside the secret CEO retreats 👀. Boards are so concerned about keeping the chief executives functioning that they may forget the rest of us.
I asked Naomi Shragai, workplace psychotherapist, coach and author of Work Therapy, to give some expert guidance on your situation: “When a boss hides their mental health issues — because they worry about how they might be perceived and the reaction it would cause — an opportunity to have meaningful and transparent conversations about the impact on the organisation and staff is lost.
“When information is withheld, and without adequate leadership, people can become dissatisfied, distrustful of the organisation and less productive. All this can lead to a culture of paranoia where people fear that their jobs are at risk. Gossip — based on fantasies rather than actual realities — spreads, plus a belief that breaking the silence can only make matters worse. All of this has a negative impact on employees’ wellbeing and productivity. It is no wonder you are looking for work elsewhere!
“I suggest that you do speak to the board. They might be unaware, or even in denial, of how harmful the CEO’s absence is, and the management of it. The problem should be taken out of your hands, and taken on by the board.”
Five top stories from the world of work
The productivity hack that really does boost careers: Pilita Clark examines the under-discussed topic of stamina, which can make a huge difference in terms of career success.
How teens affect working parents: This feature by Emma Jacobs on how hard it is to parent teens, and some of the new ways that employers are trying to help, really resonated with readers and commenters on LinkedIn.
The employees promoting their company on social media: Would you let your employer persuade you to boost its profile and reputation online? Leah Quinn examines the vexed world of unpaid marketing by staff.
Working It’s guide to AI at work: Along with my colleague Mischa Frankl-Duval, I outline the five biggest things we learned from producing and presenting a three-part podcast series on generative AI at work.
Is quick-fire decision making always best? My answer to this would be definitely no, but Jo Ellison is a snap decision maker and offers some great examples of why it (sometimes) works in this column.
One more thing . . .
Terrible pay, long hours and no job security: a new Netflix series, America’s Sweethearts, offers us access to behind-the-scenes drama as the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys’ cheerleading squad searches for its 2023 line-up. It’s another hit from the prolific sports documentary-maker Greg Whiteley (his Last Chance U and Cheer series are a must-see, if you haven’t already).
Despite the cheerleaders’ skill and fame, the Cowboys organisation pays these women a tiny fraction of what its star footballers receive. Come for the high kicks, then shout at the screen about gender inequality.
And finally . . .
Please send all ideas, photos of your enviable “work from anywhere” set up on a Croatian beach, or thoughts about politics in the workplace to me: isabel.berwick@ft.com. This week I received a handwritten card from someone I met via Working It (thank you, Sarah D). I remembered how lovely it is to get actual letters. So feel free to send those, too.
And speaking of getting in touch, here’s the wonderful old-school letter box I saw recently in the village of Dunster in Somerset.
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