The U.S. Election: Reinforce Cultures of Respect

Compliance officers are helping companies navigate the political rancor and social unrest of a turbulent year – a reality reinforced in a recent Wall Street Journal article.

It’s not an easy job.

These are divisive and contentious times.

Outside the walls of our organizations, issues are too often politicized or reduced to “us versus them” rhetoric.

While inside the walls of business, over the past several years, a lot of work has been done to ensure cultures where everyone to feel safe, included and welcomed. 

While no one can predict the aftermath of our U.S. election, most companies are anticipating some amount of disruption.

Research from our partners at The HOW Institute for Society, in the recent State of Moral Leadership Report, recently discovered 44% of U.S. employees say that the social and political divides in our country are impacting relationships in their workplace.

Some organizations are polishing off social media policies. Others are attempting to ban all political discussion – a futile effort in a world where so much of our personal and professional lives are being fused.

At LRN we recently looked to our values of Passion, Truth, Integrity and Humility to provide a set of guidelines for how we can work together to foster respectful conversations and foster an inclusive culture – an excerpt of those guidelines follow along with a guide we recently released to our partner community for having difficult conversations.