Management Lessons: That's What She Said

Faux Pas Friday: Two-Drink Maximum

Fashion is nothing if you don't know how to behave yourself.  You know the old saying, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.  Well, you can put a jackass in Armani, and it's still a jackass.  This week, I am writing about how to behave at an office happy hour or after-hours party involving alcohol.

I think it goes without saying that managers, above all employees, should be very careful of their alcohol in take at office functions.  You should never put an employee in the position of having to care for, or worry about you.  The last thing in the world you need is to have an employee pouring you into a taxi at the end of the night, or worse, bailing you out of jail on your DUI in the morning.  God forbid alcohol should cloud your judgment to the point that you end up telling that intern from Marketing just exactly what you'd like to do to her in the privacy of your office. Managers need to follow very specific codes of conduct in the company of their team members, be it 9 a.m. in the office, or 9 p.m. at the bar.  Whether you are standing in the office, or outside, you are still The Boss.  Don't kid yourself that your employees are evolved enough to compartmentalize your behavior.  Everything you do with an employee is on-the-clock.  You'll remember that even Phoebe turned on Chandler when she went to work for him. 

Obviously, I am fairly old school about most things.  When it comes to alcohol, I don't think a manager should ever risk overindulging.  That might mean not drinking at all. Your team members need to trust your judgment, and how you manage your liquor says a lot.  If you choose to indulge, two drinks should be the max.  Two is usually the number of drink tickets HR will hand out at wet events, and at two drinks a lightweight will be feeling all right, but very few people will be slurring and declaring their love.  

Your bartime behavior will set the standard for most of your employees.  Unless you want to take responsibility for seeing them all home safely, set the example you'd like them to follow.  Also remember that your sobriety might be the only thing that keeps a drunken employee from driving.  If for no other reason than that good help is hard to find, you don't want to send your team out into the night drunk as a cheerleader at senior prom.  (Should you have an employee over-indulge, then take the reins.  Call him a cab, or drive him home yourself, but do not let him drive.)

In short, if you want your employees to respect you in the morning, you've got to be respectable when you're with them in the night.  I know it's no fun, but that's why you're getting paid the big bucks.

Lane Buckman has been in love with fashion since she realized that her first Easter dress came with matching gloves, shoes, and purse. Growing up in the entertainment industry this former beauty queen, model and actress turned corporate career woman understands that dressing for success is just another form of costuming. And, since she has run the size gamut from 2 to 18, Lane understands dressing a variety of shapes. She has written dress codes and conducted Business Style and How to Dress seminars for Fortune 500 and finance companies, boutique agencies, and an international non-profit organization. She gives her stylish Southern mother credit for teaching her everything she knows.

Faux Pas Friday: All Politics Is Personal

Sue Sylvester: You may be two of the stupidest teens I've ever encountered - and that's saying something. I once taught a cheerleading seminar to Sarah Palin.

During the last election, I worked in a capacity that required me to read the correspondence between our company's CEO and an operating committee member.  I opened an email one day to read the CEO saying that he would be voting for Candidate A, and that anyone who voted for Candidate B was a moron and shouldn't be working for our company.  Guess which candidate had my vote?  Guess which CEO lost some of my respect?

Political affiliations, like religious ones, are very personal and it is hard to separate political opinion from ego.  This is why you have to tread very carefully when it comes to talking politics in the office--you might end up calling one of your best employees a moron.  And that moron might write a blog entry about you later.  If she's the grudge holding type.

When I was getting ready to write this entry, I asked my husband if he could think of any television shows where characters had talked about politics inappropriately.  He said, "The View.  They are too stupid to be allowed to talk about politics."  I'm not sure that those ladies count, but his comment does convey a clear sense of one problem with talking politics:  If you aren't well informed or well spoken, you can sound like a complete tool. Current talking head, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, is a perfect example.  She has strong, (hopefully) well thought out opinions, but lacks the wherewithal to share her thoughts with any sort of respectability.  Erstwhile host, Rosie O'Donnell, has strong, (hopefully) well thought out opinions, but comes across as such a jerk you don't even want to listen to her.  Granted, even if you are thoughtful and erudite, to a staunch political opponent, you will sound like a braying ass or someone to be pitied.

Be careful of assumptions.  Again, during the last election, a very Republican coworker of mine complained that people kept assuming she would be voting for a particular candidate based on her race.  Another executive was finding it hard to bite her tongue that people assumed she would be traveling to an Inaugural Ball because she and our President Elect shared a check box on the ethnicity questionnaire. Just because someone is old and white, doesn't mean they are voting old and white.  Assuming they are can be extremely insulting.

Here's the thing:  In the office, you don't want to alienate anyone.  That Democrat/Republican/Libertarian/Anarchist down the hall might be just the guy to save your bacon the next time you need help.  You don't want to offend him with your outspoken views on Healthcare Reform.  That woman who is forced to read your emails might be the person who has to be sure you are picked up at the airport on time.  You don't want to offend her by inadvertently calling her a moron.

In the office, your group is a team.  National politics don't matter, and they shouldn't.  There are plenty of office politics to go around as it is.

Lane Buckman has been in love with fashion since she realized that her first Easter dress came with matching gloves, shoes, and purse. Growing up in the entertainment industry this former beauty queen, model and actress turned corporate career woman understands that dressing for success is just another form of costuming. And, since she has run the size gamut from 2 to 18, Lane understands dressing a variety of shapes. She has written dress codes and conducted Business Style and How to Dress seminars for Fortune 500 and finance companies, boutique agencies, and an international non-profit organization. She gives her stylish Southern mother credit for teaching her everything she knows.