Well, it happened again. Same time, at this time, 4 years ago. The votes are counted. The yard signs are down…... I wish……And your team is back at their desks acting like everything is normal.
You probably met a few familiar faces the morning after. The Victory Lap, grinning with "Sooo…did everyone see the news?" The Ghost, camera off, answering emails with "k." And The Subject Changer, who bravely asked, "How about that weather?" too surface for me……We can laugh, but each of them is still processing something, and it shows up in how the team works and works together.
The real issue shows up later. A disagreement doesn't end just because someone said, "Let's agree to disagree." It resurfaces as people avoiding each other, sharing less, or quietly wondering whether decisions are fair. The outspoken one goes quiet. Little "safe" groups form. Nothing looks serious enough to report, but the team isn't working the way it did in October.
In Monster's 2025 survey, 68% of workers said they're uncomfortable talking politics at work, and one in three admitted to judging coworkers over political views. Another 14% said they'd rather get a cavity filled. (Fair enough.) A 2026 Washington State University study found that people who do talk politics at work pick the coworkers they expect will agree with them. Hello, little "safe" groups. So, the question isn't whether people talk politics. It's whether they still trust each other enough to work well together.
Enter the reset conversation. Most leaders skip this part, because the election is over and surely everyone moved on. They haven't. Say something anyway. It doesn't need to be a speech, "We may have had different reactions to the results, and that's okay. What hasn't changed is how we treat each other, how we work together, and what this team is here to accomplish." Short. Human. No PowerPoint required. Then do the four things that bring people back together:
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Give them something to build together. Put the two who’ve been avoiding each other on one deliverable, with a deadline, that neither can finish alone. People remember what they built together far longer than what they disagreed about.
- Watch behavior, not moods. Who stopped volunteering ideas? Whose suggestions stopped getting built on? Who isn’t getting looped in? I kept your “people want to feel seen and heard” line here.
- Don’t send the email blast. Your “all company” joke is now the headline of the bullet instead of a footnote. It’s the funniest line in the section.
If tension lingers, meet privately with those involved. Don't reopen the debate. Talk about workplace impact, communication, collaboration, behavior, performance. They don't have to agree or become friends. They do have to work together professionally.
Here's the part worth sitting with. We can automate the status report, the scheduling, and the first draft of the memo. We cannot automate whether your people trust each other enough to tell you the truth on a Tuesday. Artificial Intelligence is great for efficiency. It is not great for supporting people’s success. That's the work only leaders can do. AI isn't the story anymore. Work is. You have probably heard me say this and I won’t stop.
The election is over. Leadership isn't.
If your leaders need help with the reset conversation, I'd love to help through coaching, facilitated team sessions, or training. Let's rebuild the trust before the holiday party tests it!