Election Year Uncertainty: How It Makes Work Suck and What Leaders Can Do About It
Election years bring a whirlwind of uncertainty that can paralyze businesses. In this episode of Make Work Not Suck, Daniel Steere and Ryan Hodges explore how political shifts impact companies at every level—from executive decisions down to the frontline employee’s daily tasks. As we approach a presidential election, we discuss how business leaders can lead their teams through uncertain times and make work suck less despite the challenges.
From delayed hiring decisions to stalled projects and budget cuts, uncertainty surrounding tax policies, interest rates, and regulations is leaving companies in limbo. We explore how this affects employees’ morale, how executives can communicate during these ambiguous periods, and why scenario planning can provide clarity in an unpredictable landscape.
Timestamps:
• [00:00] How Election Year Uncertainty Impacts Work for Everyone
• [01:18] Why Companies Are Pausing Major Decisions Until After November
• [04:29] The Trump Tax Plan Expiration and What It Means for Business Owners
• [06:38] Business Owners’ Dilemma: Hire Now or Wait for New Tax Regulations?
• [08:47] How the Uncertainty Trickles Down to Employees and Managers
• [13:35] Leadership Advice: Navigating Your Team Through Uncertainty
• [17:01] Connecting the Dots Between Politics and Your Work
• [19:32] Why the Election Year Affects Regulatory Industries the Most
• [23:49] Practical Steps for Employees, Managers, and Executives to Cope with Uncertainty
• [27:56] How Managers Can Keep Teams Focused and Engaged
• [28:38] Why Now is a Good Time to Roll Out Tools Like OrgCore for Organizational Health
Key Takeaways:
• For Executives: Outline your company’s vision and prepare multiple scenarios depending on election outcomes. Communicate transparently with your teams about why certain decisions are being delayed and how you plan to move forward post-election.
• For Managers: Increase communication, even when you don’t have all the answers. Be a steady presence and help your team understand how macroeconomic factors are influencing the company’s decisions.
• For Employees: Be patient with your leaders and stay curious about how political changes might affect your work. Use this time to lean into strategic thinking and align with the company’s vision, even during uncertain times.
Don’t let election uncertainty hold your business back! Whether you’re a senior executive making big decisions or an employee wondering why projects are on hold, tune in to find out how to make work suck less during this chaotic time.
Subscribe and follow us for real-world business insights on how to navigate challenges and improve your work experience!
Transcript
gets signed into law. There is a I wanna say it's an 8 year window, I think. There's a there's a window from once they're signed in, you can't change it because they don't want the tax law changing every 4 years and just being because it Right.
[:Whipping whipping people around.
[:Well, not only that, but, you know, but as soon as the legislation's made, then the IRS has to actually come up with actual the rulings and then the CPA firms and the cascade of people following suit and software. It's Right. Ordeal. That's why there's that window. Okay.
So that window is set to expire, and we have no idea what the fate of that next wave is until after the next election, and one administration may renew it or they may Or
[:or double down on it and make it
[:Or double down. Yeah.
[:Even more of what it is, right, or completely go in the opposite direction. Right?
[:So then so then let's let's talk about that and let's let's add interest rates. Right? So because interest rates are up, you know, people are less likely to get, you know, more traditional money. It's it's harder to get. So then, like, this is in the private equity side.
You know, valuations are a little smaller. You know, cash is a little harder to get. There's they're more stingy with with cash. So if you're a business owner right now, you're looking at you know, I don't have easy access to capital. Maybe maybe you're lucky and you do or you had a pre you know, a a line of credit or something that was pre established.
But if you're looking for capital now for capital expenditures or growth or etcetera, you know, you're kind of in this, you know, can I get top dollar for my business? Can I get investment dollars? Can I get a good loan? And I've also got this impending tax. Like, if I'm gonna make a tax strategy change, I need to do it now unless I just wanna roll the dives.
Right? Right. Now if if in the business owner or the the, you know, ownership structure of the business is is holding there, if you're holding back equity growth money, capital investment, etcetera, that means that's now in the employee manager realm of these projects are now on hold.
[:Right. Which which sucks when you're needing to hire that key player that left and you're limping along without them. You've been promised that you can hire them, and then your boss says, don't not yet. Not yet. Right.
And you're like, what does that mean?
[:And so I think I think there are millions of people right now that are trying to do something in their job that's totally pulled back because the the the executive team is waiting to see where this is going to go, and I it I think it's a byproduct. The uncertainty is a byproduct, which is making work suck for people, whether it's overworked, they don't have you know, the machinery is running ragged and maintenance is constantly working on it, or we don't have the hires or, you know, sales needs more leads, but we don't have the the spare cash to you know, we don't have the cash available to invest.
[:I was promised that I could backfill these three roles, and now you're saying no. Sure. There's lots of reasons why that could really suck for people.
[:Well, and you think about it too is is if, like, the corporate tax rate goes up. And Okay. Explain that to me. Well, let's say the tax the the the whole tax structure is set to renew. Mhmm.
And if the tax structure goes up, let's just say it goes from 20 to 25%, which is nominal. Right? Okay. That's still a 5% hit. Now if do I do I invest in the capital expenditure, hire the people, operating expenditure, whatever one it's gonna go into, do I hire that thinking I'm gonna have the same profit margins, or do I need to not do that because I could have to pay more in taxes?
And so not knowing, you know, how many people wanna hire people just to go, I'm sorry. I have to fire you because we didn't know the tax laws were changing.
[:Oh, yeah. That's a terrible place to be as a as a business leader.
[:So so what do we do? We don't hire people. We don't hire them. Answer. What is that what's the adverse effect on the company?
People are working harder. People work harder. Projects aren't getting done. You know, even even on the other side of that, there are companies you know, they may not the the other side is they not if if inside a company, they're not making those expenditures, that means they're not buying from another company.
[:Sure. So somebody else somebody else's sales are suffering.
[:So somebody else's sales is suffering. You know, marketing team, the only option they have is to try to find more people and throw more money at it, but they're being told not to throw more money at it. Salespeople are hustling as hard as they can to get sales. Now, again, this is there there's some places right now that are booming, and they're just going, oh, we don't care because we're going crazy, and this doesn't impact them and everything's great.
[:But I
[:think there's probably a good I'm gonna say at least 40% at least 40% of the market
[:is
[:holding holding steady and Yeah. And waiting.
[:Yeah. I I think I think it depends on by by industry. I think there's some industries that kinda don't care because they don't matter. Sure they're affected by taxes, but they're not really affected by legislation. But I think there's some industries that are very seriously waiting to see what happens.
Alright. So I think we've talked a little bit about what the problem is. There's uncertainty in the world or or let's say, yeah, in the world. Gosh, I'm such an American. Okay.
There's uncertainty in the United States right now because we have a major election coming in about 8 weeks. And the candidates are very different in at least what they're saying they want to do from a economic and financial policy standpoint. So so we're going either one of 2 directions, and and they don't have a lot in common. So within the U. S, the problem is a lot of business owners and executives are stalling or hit pause on major decisions because they don't know which way their world's going to go.
What? So I think that's the problem. And the downstream effect is work sucks because you were expecting to have certain amount of budget and then you didn't. I talked to a friend of mine who switched jobs earlier this year. Senior guy took a CEO job at a $1,000,000,000 company.
And he's like, in my 1st week, in my first meeting, I had to give up like a half $1,000,000 of expense to the CFO because budget cuts. And I was like, your 1st week? And he's like, Yeah, my 1st week I lost half $1,000,000 that I thought I was going to have to fix some things. And now I can't fix those things because they took my money away. Yeah.
And I was like, Dude, that stinks. And he's like, Yeah, it kind of sucks. Yeah, I still got to help us. I got to make progress, but now I got to do it without the money that they promised me that I was going to have. And so I think this sucks for everybody at every level, but maybe if we start at the top, what would you recommend to senior leaders who feel this sense of uncertainty of like, gosh, life's either going to take a hard left or a hard, right?
I'm not sure which it's going to be. How do I lead my people over the next 8 to 10 weeks given this massive decision that's coming that I don't control and I can't
[:predict? You know, let's just let's just go simple here. Right? Okay. I think.
And let's use it we'll use the simplified wheel in this equation. At the end of the day, you know you've got a vision you're trying to head on. Right? But the problem is
[:Or or hopefully, you do.
[:No. No. I I think at the end of the day, you've got a vision you're going on. You just don't know what journey to take because of the uncertainty.
[:Right? Yeah. That's good. Okay.
[:It's we need the capital expenditure. We're gonna sell the business. We're gonna invest. We're going to do something. We just don't know the path to get there.
he way down, you know, from a:You just have a have to have enough of it to explain this direction is what it could look like, this direction is what it could look like. And then the culture kinda component of that is is to make sure you get everybody to understand of these are the reasons why we're waiting till after November to know which path because each one has these variations in it that we're gonna have to navigate. And then the end result of that is when when we know the outcome of the election, it'll tell us are we looking a or b, And after that, we will proceed accordingly. I think I think not communicating that degree I think there's a level of fear of of politics. Like, we don't Right.
Go, well, if the left wins, we're gonna do this, or if the right wins, we're gonna do this, or this side loses or that side. Sure. I think you gotta take the the the political, you know, stance side out of it and just what facts. Right. If the tax bracket goes up, we're gonna have to look this way.
If the tax bracket goes down, this is what it unlocks for us. It's a little harder. This is a little easier. We will have a better understanding which way it's gonna go in November. I Right.
I don't like, there's there's a level of there's just fact in what's going to happen. The tax, laws are going to expire and new tax laws are going to come in. What are they? We don't know. But we can say that if they're favorable, here's how we'll spend more.
If they're less you know, if they're unsaved, this is how we'll stay the course. And if they're less favorable, here's how we'll have to trim some some components out. And I think if you can communicate that as a leader to the entire organization, it'll go a long way with with, what I would say grace into the organization because you're providing clarity. You're providing, oh, there's a reason why they're delaying things. There's a reason why we're we're pausing.
There's a reason for this. People are reasonable, but they have to understand
[:why. Right. It's not it's not that my boss is just a jerk.
[:Yeah. I mean, I Yeah. You don't you don't need to go in there like, hey. You know, the tax rate is gonna potentially go from, you know, 20 to 40%, and that means I'm gonna have to eat, you know, $2,000,000 in cash every year in my pocket. Like, okay.
You don't need to share that. Right. Right. But it people people can do deductive reasoning. Hey.
The tax rate could go from from 20 to 30%. That's gonna have an impact on our bottom line.
[:Sure. Yeah. I would absolutely agree with you. I would say for a lot of Americans, I even think about myself early in my career. Like I would hear politics and I would hear stuff on the radio or on TV.
And then I would think about my job. But I, I didn't really know how to connect those dots. And so I think one thing that senior leaders can do is kind of help their people connect those dots and say. Look, if this happens, then here's what that consequence or what the impact is gonna be to our business. Not saying I'm voting for or against that person.
Just saying this is what is likely going to happen if if the country heads in that direction. And if we go in this direction, there's pros and cons with that. But here's here's what those would look like because I don't know if the average American understands what the connection is between what happens in November and what happens in their work, especially depending on the size of the company. Right? If you're in a fortune 500 company, that means one thing.
If you're in a midsized company, it means another. If you're in a small business, it could mean something totally different depending on your industry and size.
[:Well, I agree. I agree. But I think if I if I heard you correctly, I I wouldn't tie it to a candidate at all because I think then what's gonna happen is you're gonna, oh, well, you're anti this person.
[:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's a good point. Yep.
That's fair. Just
[:there is there is I think you gotta you gotta remove all that. Mhmm. I mean, if you want to, if that's your MO and you've made your political stance fine and your whole organization knows it and, you know, maybe on that side, sure, do it. That fits you. But if you want to take the the the more high road and not get into a political debate inside your organization, I think you just simply state, we don't know which direction this is gonna head into November.
Here's if if if if things like, there's, some some guys I've I've worked with or known in the past that, are deeply tied to EPA regulation. And Okay. Soon as soon as the administration changes, you get new, you know, heads of all these various departments and whatnot. And a lot of them go, well, we just don't know what the EPA changes are going to be until we know who's running it. Right.
Yeah. It's that doesn't really have I mean, it's not really a left versus a right thing. It's just who's the guy in charge that the Right. The president elects to go into that position. Sure.
So it's not just, you know, tax rates. There are
[:Oh, yeah.
[:There's some regular regulatory industry that's governed by a government body. And, again, a lot of those those people turn over in an election year. An election year.
[:So related to that, one of the tools that I have found helpful in situations like this is what's called scenario planning. Yeah. Right. So to explain scenario planning, I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just saying we're gonna fast forward to a potential future date.
Right? It is when does the president get elected? Right? It, January 15th? Or the the president actually gets installed.
January 15th. Okay.
[:Yeah. Into January. Yep.
[:Scenario a, Donald Trump gets elected I
[:wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I think you just have to You wouldn't? No. I think you're getting it.
You're getting because what somebody's gonna hear in that, you're pro Trump. Okay. You're gonna zoom in out all the information. But the it it's simple. I think you're overcomplicating it.
If the regulation gets tighter, here's what it means. If the regulation gets looser, here's what it means. That's not indicative of because the whole thing is is and this is the stupidity of everything going really. The second you put a name on a candidate Yeah. You've already put some gloves on.
Yeah. You have What did you
[:do with the candidate? Right.
[:It's a business owner. You're got it doesn't matter who's president. You're gonna still run your company. Right.
[:Unless And your job is and your job is still to achieve your vision, to implement your your journey, to manage the culture, and to deliver some results. Right?
[:And it doesn't matter who the context is, but the context will change. Right. So in the case of, you know, whatever it is that's holding you up, if you're the business owner executive, etcetera, that is waiting for the election, I think the most important thing is is whatever decision you're waiting on, whether it's taxes, whether it's regulation, or, you know, sub ruling or whatever, just if it gets tighter, if it gets looser. If it gets tighter, here's what it means. If it gets looser, here's what it means.
And I I again, I remember a guy that was in one of my peer groups in, in the past is his regulation was all around admissions from the EPA. When the EPA admissions got tighter, their business went up because they were part of the testing systems that these companies had to use. Sure. When the EPA got looser on their deals, companies that wanted to maintain the high standard would still use them. Companies that would just go to the minimum standard may dial down what they purchased.
[:Right. You might lose some losing business, losing customers.
[:Or they might dial they'll just the the the standard loosens, so the amount of work would loosen. So that would
[:Okay.
[:Their literally, their revenue fluctuated with how loose and how tight the APA was in this particular industry. Yeah. And so I think that's one of those it's it's just it's that simple. If the regulation gets tighter, it's gonna go this way. If the regulation is looser, it's gonna go that way.
And here's some of the things we predict to see behind it. Please be patient with us as we're waiting to see. We don't wanna make the wrong call. We wanna make sure the right call. We don't wanna spend money, you know, erroneously, and then, you know, we make the wrong call and go backwards or, you know, here's our level of confidence one way or the other.
And I I think, again, you can paint that picture and just all you're trying to do is explain why you're waiting and why it's a good thing you're waiting Yep. So that everybody has that clarity and and just put a date on it. Hey. We should know an answer by this. You know, you're not gonna know election day.
Right? November is just you you just know who the candidate is, and it's really sometimes it's gonna take all the way into you know, of course, as soon as the candidate's elected, they're already starting to make things happen and prepping Right. Yada yada. But, you know, and it may be January, February, March before you really make the change because of the of the cascade and the flow. So I think it's just, like, by this x time is when we're gonna make this decision to move forward.
Or, hey. If we know this much, we'll we'll turn on we'll we'll unlock steps 1, 2, and 3, and I think it's I think there's a lot of people with uncertainty that just don't know how to address the topic. Mhmm. And so I let's let's let's wind down to some practical application on the 3 layers and wrap this thing up.
[:Alright. Let's start. Let's go bottom up. K. If you are frontline employee, new hire, early in your career, or just just started with the company, There's a lot of change happening in the world that change depending on the size of your company and the industry that you're in and maybe some other factors as well.
Has your current executive team maybe in a sense of paralysis? Right. Because they don't know which way the world's going to go. Right. We've talked about politics, but honestly, there are other things we could talk about too that are these kind of macro forces that could change significantly change the landscape of the world.
And so, I think my three words for the frontline employees would be grace. Right? Be be patient with your leaders. They're they've got a tough job right now. Curiosity.
Right? Don't don't condemn. Like, hey. You said I could have this, and now you said I can't, and you're making my job harder. And humility.
There are things you probably don't know you don't know. And if you had grace, curiosity, and humility, I think it would enable you to become an asset during this difficult transition where we know some very big decisions are going to be made, and we don't know which way they're gonna go, but whatever way they go is gonna have a big impact. I think grace, humility, and curiosity are maybe the three words I would recommend to to every employee over the next couple of months.
[:Well, I think that flies basically everybody up, you know, all the layers up until even even to to see executives. But I would I would say I would but not challenge you, but I'm gonna expand on what you said. I think you outlined a great culture component.
[:Okay.
[:That's, like, vision side of it. If you don't understand the vision side of why the decisions are, I think you need to seek the why, the vision. The journey process with this would be to apply the values that you just outlined and the and, again, seeking the vision. Mhmm. Using those questions and being curious and and just asking for clarity and then finding those things you can do to be part of the solution as opposed to sitting back and being part of the problem, then the results will speak for theirselves.
You'll be more aligned. You'll understand what you're doing. You've leaned in, etcetera. So I think Yeah.
[:You you might even be more efficient than your counterparts, which is gonna look real good for you when things change.
[:The the end result is work or suck less because you know what you're working for. Right. Right. And and I think I think that same advice goes to the manager. I was try I'm really struggling to think about a unique for the manager.
I think the manager is gonna be a little bit of the leadership advice and a little bit of the employee advice. But if we say unless you got something for the manager, I think I think the manager is gonna be a mix of both.
[:Yeah. I would say this needs to be a time where, leaders and managers communicate more, and and they kind of lean in even though they have less information to share. Right. This isn't about having all the answers. This is about being a safe place to have the conversation.
And again, that's not a politics comma versus Trump conversation. That is a here is what is happening in the world right now. Here's how that influences our business. And here are some of the, you know, kind of pros and cons consequences of various outcomes that we could see over the next couple of months and in and engaging people, helping people to think more strategically about their work. I think that's, you know, most executives aren't gonna be able to have the time for that.
That's a mid level manager responsibility, but crucially important because it helps your people better understand the business that they're in. Yep.
[:I think going going through the wheel, it's it's it's defined the the vision of the current hurdle. Mhmm. Journey aspect is is, you know, again, have a few scenarios there. Things get tougher. Things get looser.
Here's what those mean to us. The cultic aspect of it is be candid with them. Don't beat around the bush, and and lean in. Be the leader, be the mentor, be the be the guide. The results will speak for itself.
You'll better align the team. Right. Everybody will understand, you know, why they're rowing and the direction they're rowing, and you'll help make their work not suck, which will make yours not suck as much. If you really wanna take advantage of the of the situation Mhmm. I would say now is a good time
[:to roll out of our core. Oh. Nice. Why? Why now?
Because I would say wait until till January.
[:Why now? Because you can get a baseline on where everybody's at right now, and you can actually right now, if you're guessing if you are guessing what your people are feeling and doing and you're relying on the game of telephone to understand it, then you're gonna make a lot of decisions in a vacuum. If you wanna be a great leader and make great decisions, you need good data. Yep. And if you don't have the health and effectiveness of your organization, then how how are you gonna do that?
[:Yeah. You talked me into it because because even the clients that I work with that have great data, they have great lagging data. Right? They can they can tell me at the end of the quarter that they made good decisions, and I'm like, that's a little bit of a long time to wait, isn't it? Wouldn't we rather know now if we've got a problem than wait 90 days?
[:And
[:I think Oracle is a good solution to help them understand how their vision journey culture and results are working together now so they can make changes and see those results 90 days from now as opposed to wait 90 days, see the results aren't what you like, and then have to try to guess what the problem was that caused it. Yep. And and
[:I got a challenge for for you and I. Okay. I say we need to find a couple of companies that are are struggling with this
[:and need
[:to just see over the top what they're doing now, maybe kinda put a little bit of a a update in in upcoming podcast. And then in in 3 to 6 months after the election and some time has passed, come back and see, what what That would be fun. The the pro and con or how well they met how how they managed it, how they mitigated it, how they overcome it. So Do
[:you think we would have, like, have them on the podcast before the election, see how they're doing?
[:Oh, I think we can if we can pull it off. Yeah.
[:If we can find somebody alright. So if anybody's listening
[:Yeah. I'd say seamless plug. Like, if you know a company Right. That if you if you want to be part of this, again, we'll gladly help out, you know, help do some analytics, help do some oversight, and, you know, sound, soundboarding. But Mhmm.
If you wanna nominate your company or you are the owner executive and you would like to be part of it, drop us a comment, and we will definitely reach out and get you set up.
[:Make work not suck. Our podcast that talks about exactly that, our process, vision, journey, culture, and results. We present real world business solutions that make the difference.
[:Julie, all of you there.
