Electoral etiquette at work

Get a grip

With Ann Humphries, ETICON

(CNN) -- Take a deep breath.

Remember your blood pressure.

And start thinking now about leaving those balloons at home.

It's time -- now, not once we know more -- to start facing the fact that the dynamic in this year's United States' presidential election has changed.

Granted, Tuesday wasn't your normal Election Day. We didn't see the usual straightforward stream of balloting returns add up to a clear winner. But even then, the tendency for supporters of the president-elect to lord it over everyone else would have been inappropriate in the workplace.

In fact, it's fairly well recognized that promoting one's political views is something best not done at the watercooler.

But inevitably when all is said and done, there's that co-worker hanging over your right shoulder -- left for Democrats, of course -- wanting to rub in "her" victory, make sure you know "you" lost, tell you he knew all along that "he" would win.

And in this most peculiar electoral limbo, one of the few things we do know with certainty is that the popular vote has split the country. Loosely speaking, you can expect half of any office to be on the unhappy side of the counts and the recounts.

CNN: So with Florida becoming a sort of reluctant new Athens -- somehow suddenly cradling a portion of our electoral future in its confusion -- we elected to ask Ann Humphries, the uncontested president of ETICON, what we should think about in terms of working together once an outcome finally is decided.

Ann Humphries:You know, it actually goes both ways. You're right to say not to gloat if your candidate ultimately wins the Oval Office. But by the same token, don't grieve, either, if your candidate loses.

CAST ANOTHER BALLOT Drop us a note-vote about an issue you'd like to see us address in "Corporate Class." Several readers have had some good suggestions so far. There's the cubicle next door that's overrun by stuffed animals, for example. And how do you tell the office exterminator to stop wearing so much cologne? All this and more can be topics for discussion here. Click here for nonpartisan instructions.

QUICK VOTE What's the best way to handle your office gloater if her or his candidate wins? Say "Hey, your candidate doesn't know his mom from apple pie" and start a big fight in the break room. Smile quietly, try to appreciate her or his happiness and wait for the mania to blow over. Take up a collection among your colleagues and make a major donation to the opposing party -- in the gloater's name. View Results

If you work for an ad company hired to make commercials for a particular candidate, that's one thing. You share a corporate interest in the outcome of the election. Celebration makes sense if your commercials help put that candidate over the top. But if you're an insurance salesperson or a software-company worker -- an employee or executive in a company that doesn't do politics as a business -- then you need to be sensitive.

You don't want to get too sterile, of course. It's fun to have arguments. I've been asking people how they made a decision on how to vote. That can be interesting, hearing their reasoning, getting their viewpoints.

But once the outcome is known, this is different from having a Denver Broncos sticker on the side of your computer. Political stickers and slogans? It's not a game.

Remember that a key rule of business is that you never disparage your competition. And that's the general rule to follow when thinking about how to react among your co-workers to the outcome of the election. It hurts your own credibility if you gloat.

Federal workers, of course, simply can't promote their favorites in any electoral situation. For that matter, newsrooms aren't the place for declarations of personal political leanings, either.

In other businesses, while nothing says you can't talk politics, you do want to be careful if you do it. The loudmouths are the ones who cause the trouble. Bright and creative people are going to be active politically.

But they'll do well to keep it low-key and muted. And one good way to handle a loudmouth is to have each "side" tend to its own. If one of your co-workers is cheering about a win for a candidate you supported, pull that person aside and just say, "You know, let's ease up, it doesn't make anybody feel good that our guy won and their guy lost."

If somebody is carrying on too much, be upfront: "You know, I'd appreciate it if you'd tone it down. This is driving me crazy, give me a little time."

And if you've gotten terribly caught up in the back-and-forth on the vote and the balloting issues and are disappointed with the outcome, then consider taking the day off when the news comes. Maybe you're going to be more comfortable just being out of it.

It all comes down to handling it in the workplace just as the candidates try to handle it in political life: You want gracious winners and gracious losers.

Ann Humphries, founder and president of ETICON, Inc. and a Certified Professional Consultant to Management, includes several Fortune 500 companies among her clients. She's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Money, and on CNN, CBS and Lifetime TV. You can contact her at www.eticon.com.

-- Interview, Porter Anderson

ETICON.com

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