In this 5-minute read:
- Relieve your own stress
- Be mindful of employees
- Reiterate company values
- Set an example
- Keep politics out of customer conversations
- Focus on your business
No matter which side of the national election you were one, this has been a stressful one for a lot of us. In fact, over two-thirds of Americans across all political parties say that the 2020 presidential election caused them stress, a significant increase from the 2016 election. It doesn’t help that our country is also in the middle of a pandemic.
All of this stress has likely poured over into business operations, too. Whether you, your customers, or employees are feeling it, the election may still be affecting your business. We’ve put together some tips to help your business move forward.
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Tips for moving forward after a stressful election
It doesn’t matter if your candidate won or lost or you were indifferent to the election, these tips can help any business during times of national stress.
Find ways to relieve your own stress
As a business owner, you need to be on top of your game most days so that you can keep operations running smoothly. If you’ve found that this election was particularly stressful for you and you’re having a hard time shaking it, try stress-relieving techniques before or during your work day. This can help you stay more focused and be mentally available as your job calls for it.
Here are some good relaxation techniques to get you started:
- Practice healthy habits. Eat a good breakfast or get a workout in before arriving at the office
- Give meditation a try. Apps like Calm and Headspace have guided meditation that you can use for just a couple of minutes at a time as you need it
- Take a few deep breaths. Anytime you start to get rattled over a political comment or discussion, step back and take a few deep breaths. Then turn your focus to something else
- Reduce your caffeine intake. Large doses of caffeine can increase anxiety. Opt for herbal teas, juice, or water and a good breakfast to help you get going in the morning
Stress affects everyone differently, so find what works well for you so that you can keep your head in the game at work.
Be mindful of your employees
Remember that your employees may be feeling the same way as you. They just went through this election too. Some of them might be joyous that their candidate won while others are dealing with the fact that theirs lost.
While you don’t want to censor your employees’ discussions, it may be a good idea to have a company meeting to bring awareness to how some people may be feeling right now. Encourage your employees to be mindful of one another’s feelings and beliefs. Depending on how you and your employees feel, you might decide that it’s okay not to discuss politics at the office.
Provide stress-relief ideas to your employees and allow them to take small breaks as needed to recoup mentally/emotionally. This will boost morale and help improve productivity for those that are more impacted by the stress of the election.
Reiterate company values
Remind your employees of your company’s values and seek to keep that culture as your business moves past the election.
You might send out a memo to all employees that acknowledges the current stress of the election and encourage them to embrace your company culture of mutual respect in order to keep a harmonious workplace.
Be an example for your employees
Employees generally hold their employers’ words and actions in high regard. That puts a lot of responsibility on your shoulders, but it’s also what you signed up for when you became a business owner.
Set a good example for your employees by keeping political discussions to a minimum, listening well to others, and keeping a level head when someone poses beliefs that vary from your own.
You set the tone for your employees. And if you’re going to get riled up every time someone says something that you disagree with, that’s going to make it a difficult work environment for everyone.
Don’t talk politics with customers
This year it seems that most voters were strongly for or strongly against the Republican and Democratic candidates. There weren’t quite as many in between. Because of this, talking politics with a customer could lose you business if you’re unsure of which party they are affiliated with.
Stresses are still high and likely will be for a while, so it might be wise to keep politics out of business for a little while. Encourage your employees not to engage in political discussions with customers and provide extra training as needed to help keep business transactions professional, even if a customer attempts to bring their political beliefs into it.
Focus on your business
This may seem obvious, but it’s important to find something else to focus on in times of high stress. As you focus on your business, you can also help change the focus for your employees and customers as you engage in new marketing practices or launch new products or services.
Find something that your business can do to help move itself forward and distract from political discussions. Focus on new holiday sales and offerings to bring about the holiday cheer.
Place fun social media ads to create a break in the endless scrolling of political debate that most people are seeing in their social feeds right now. Not only does this help alleviate the stress of the election for your business and your customers, but it also helps you get more sales!
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