Leading Through Election Anxiety

Author

Lisa Friscia
November 05, 2024

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Table of Contents

Communication & Election Anxiety

I know I am not the only one dealing with a high level of election anxiety. At times, I see my work as an escape, relishing that which is in my locus of control to fix. During others, I surrender myself to doom scrolling through social media. And then finally, I end up signing up for multiple voter protection shifts (there are still shifts to sign up here to help ballot cure to help every vote count!)

Look, everyone and their mother should know where I stand on the election (and if you don’t, you can read this). But this newsletter is to support everyone in leading. Some of us are in orgs with a diversity of teammates. Still others have boards, philanthropy or investors that may not entirely align with your viewpoint or your team’s- and listen, these people can shape how your organization can operate in the future. I appreciate the weight of other people’s jobs that you carry.

I’m not a communications strategist by trade, but I can say from personal experience that you need to start by asking yourself what your values are and how you want to show up. There is always risk involved in communicating during a high stress time. Part of this is understanding the risks involved in communicating based on the the different stakeholders, and understanding which risks are acceptable, which can be mitigated and which are existential. I would do this exercise as a first step, as it will help create the North Star and parameters for subsequent communication.

I recently drafted out post-election comms for a progressive non-profit, and thought it may be helpful to share some of the key points I think it’s important to hit. And if you want to see my emails (minus identifying info), email me and I’ll share them.

  • Honor that the election has brought anxiety and the results may bring many mixed emotions. People often just want to be seen.

  • Stress your commitment to the mission and the organizational values you share, and name that these will be your guiding principles.

  • If you foresee the political landscape changing due to election results, name this as well.

  • If there is no clear winner, name that you know the uncertainty can be challenging for many. Name whatever flexibility you can give.

  • Share resources for staff on how best to manage their election anxiety. First and foremost, remind folks of any mental health resources, PTO policies or your EAP.

If you manage managers, create space for them to express their concerns and challenges so that they feel equipped to do that for others. This isn’t to say managers can’t be vulnerable- but as managers we also need to project enough confidence and clarity in times of crisis while also being as human. What does this look like? I don’t know. I mean, we’re all figuring out out. But we’ve got to try do both and help each other to do so by sharing strategies and asking each other for help.

Finally, take care of yourself- No, really. You are going to be creating space for others while action planning while doing all the other things that you do. Shut off at a certain time. Call a friend. Get a coach. Go to your house of worship, if that’s in your practice. You can absolutely not help others if you don’t put on your own oxygen mask.

On my end, I have hot yoga, voter protection calls and ice cream identified as my self-care plan. What are you doing to take care of yourselves?

1% Solutions

  • Election Comms Template- This template from Liberation Labs is helpful to share. Yes, it ideally was an email to send Monday but (a) you can send it today and (b) read it to have an idea of how to communicate to teammates if we don’t have an answer this evening

  • Enjoy and share the following:

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