Two weeks after the U.S. election, half the country is jubilant, the other half despondent. Each side glares across the divide with anger and disdain. It’s so bad, the American Psychological Association cites “the future of the nation” as the single greatest source of stress in America.
People are frazzled, relationships are fractured. One-third of the country says politics is straining their family bonds and half say it’s making them connect less with other people overall. In this fraught environment, the last thing anyone wants to do is spend time with the “enemy”—whether at a dinner table or on a Zoom call. But exposure to the people we distrust or don’t understand is exactly what we need, because familiarity softens difference and reduces division. Here’s why. Humans are wired to be instinctively empathetic to people who are familiar and similar. But we struggle to give the same level of empathy to people who are not like us—until we get to know them.
This was powerfully proven during World War II. Towards the end of the war, the U.S. army was still segregated, but high casualties left units so understaffed that Black volunteers joined combat duty. When the War Department surveyed troops they found that whites who fought alongside Black soldiers had dramatically changed their views on race—in ways that hundreds of years of living alongside each other after slavery had not. Working towards a common goal on the battlefield as equals changed everything about how people viewed each other and how they worked together. As John Steinbeck famously wrote, “You can’t hate men if you know them.”
Instead of being battlefields, workplaces can be bridges to somewhere better. They’re one of the few places where people with starkly different experiences and beliefs have to work together towards shared goals. With the right leadership, workplaces can transcend politics, fundamentally shifting how we see each other, and breeding the unity and civility the country desperately needs.
It’s not going to happen overnight and it’s definitely not going to be easy. But with corporate leaders committed to forcing the country out of its respective corners, we can find common ground, mend fractured teams, and move forward together. Here are three positive ways companies can start rebuilding the post-election workplace.
Bring People Together For A Greater Good
After a presidential campaign that felt like an existential threat, people need somewhere to direct their residual emotion, passion, and energy. Give your employees an outlet by creating a non-partisan project that brings people together in meaningful ways. Think about how people leave petty politics and daily squabbles behind to unite when there’s a disaster. That’s the kind of energy and unity we need.
Consider the extraordinary response of Hancock Bank after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. With ATMs and bank branches destroyed, employees dug cash out of flooded vaults and laundered it–literally–by cleaning it in washing machines connected to generators. Then they distributed tens of millions of dollars to people with no ID, relying on their promises to pay it back. The result? The bank recovered over 99.5% of the cash and gained loyal customers for life. It would have been very easy for employees to stay home, but, together, they helped their community in desperate times.
Find something your team is passionate about and galvanize action. Like Unilever’s Help a Child Reach 5 campaign that provides hygiene education to millions and significantly reduces infections. Or Salesforce’s 1-1-1 model that donates 1% of product, 1% of time, and 1% of equity to charity. There’s nothing like unifying for the greater good to remind us what we can accomplish together if we put our differences aside.
Build Gratitude Into Your Culture
Gratitude isn’t just a “feel good” emotion. Neuroscientists have found that it activates parts of the brain associated with pleasure, bonding, and emotional regulation, while reducing stress and defensiveness. Over time, consistently practicing gratitude can help rewire teams for positivity and connection.
Consider the inspirational story of Captain Charles Plumb, a Navy pilot shot down in Vietnam who spent 2,103 days as a prisoner of war. Finally back at home, Plumb was sitting in a restaurant when a man approached him and said, "You were shot down! I packed your parachute!" Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent in the bowels of the ship, meticulously packing parachutes to save lives with no acclaim or recognition. Plumb was so moved he started giving inspirational speeches asking teams, “Who’s packing your parachute?" Who in your organization has helped make your day or project better, safer, or more successful? His work has helped 5,000 organizations around the world appreciate their unsung heroes.
Find ways to institutionalize gratitude like Hilton’s Catch Me At My Best program that recognizes employees ”caught” delivering outstanding service. Or Zappos’ Coworker Bonus initiative that allows employees to reward peers for going above and beyond. Gratitude is a simple but transformative act that can boost well-being, increase morale, and strengthen workplace relationships.
Help Colleagues (Really) Get To Know Each Other
Effective teams are more than just people who happen to share the same branch of the org chart. They’re people united by common goals and values. People who are deeply connected and trust each other. But none of this can happen until they know each other. Once people know each other, they work better together. It’s a simple but profound truth.
And bringing people together doesn’t need to be big or flashy or expensive. We saw this with a feuding group of machinists at a factory. Their grievances were obliterating their productivity, so the team was brought together with my nonprofit Reflection Point to read and discuss compelling short stories with a facilitator. There was initially a lot of pushback and skepticism. But very quickly, the team began to thaw. They learned much more about each other—not just as colleagues but as people. Through frank and open conversations about highly charged and sensitive issues in the stories, over time they deepened their trust.
Building these relationships paid off. Missed deadlines dropped to zero, productivity went up, and morale soared. As one participant put it, “Now that we know each other, there’s not a problem we can’t solve together.”
Find innovative ways for your employees to spend meaningful time getting to know each other—from team retreats to community service projects, like workers at Eaton building beds for children in need or Patagonia employees volunteering for environmental causes.
Bringing teams together is good for productivity and profits, but rebuilding our workplaces is about much more. It’s about reclaiming what makes us human: our ability to connect, care, and collaborate despite differences. At a time when polarization and propaganda threaten to tear us apart, leaders need the courage to create spaces where employees can find common ground. Unity, gratitude, and connection are not acts of kindness or clever management strategies; they're acts of positive rebellion. We may not be able to change our country overnight. But we do have the power to start changing our companies.
First published in Forbes.com.
