尽量让同事讲完，不要打断他们。做到这一点这可能很难。“尊重他们的观点，即便他们的观点与你大相径庭，”拉基库玛建议。“追问一下，看看他们为什么笃信这种说法。”谁知道呢，也许你最终会改变自己的观点。

    不要提高嗓门。“当人们开始打断对方、提高嗓门的那一刻起，交谈就变成了争吵，”她补充道。你可不想闹到这一步。

    实事求是。“如果你不知道一个问题的答案，或者拿不出事实依据，千万不要胡编乱造，”她说。“谎言终会被戳穿，最终损害的是你自己的信誉。”

    避免头脑发热。“礼貌地回绝，不要和那些喜欢挑起事端或激怒别人的家伙讨论政治。”言多必失。

    限定政治讨论的时间。你的第一要务显然是集中精力工作，因此如果有人提起了一个你希望能深入讨论的话题，不妨把它放到午餐或休息时间。

    所有大选，哪怕是这次大选最终也将结束，难道这不是件值得高兴的事吗？

    反馈：你们热衷讨论政治话题吗？你是积极参与，还是尽量回避？请留言。

    译者：老榆木

    Always let coworkers speak without interrupting them. Difficult though it may be, "respect their opinion even if it's very different from yours," Rajkumar advises. "Ask follow-up questions and find out why your coworker believes what he or she believes."    Who knows, you may end up altering your own position.

    Don't raise your voice. "The moment people start cutting each other off and raising voices is the moment the conversation becomes a fight," she adds. You don't want to go there.

    Stick to the facts. "If you don't know the answer to a question or can't offer a factual basis for your beliefs, resist the temptation to make something up," she says. "A fabricated answer may come back to haunt you, hurting your credibility."

    Avoid hotheads. "Politely decline to discuss politics with coworkers who like to start arguments or ruffle feathers." Enough said.

    Consider limiting political discussions to certain times. Your first priority is obviously to concentrate on work, so if someone raises a topic you'd like to get into in detail, put it off until lunch or a break.

    Aren't you glad elections -- even this one -- eventually end?

    Talkback: Is there much political discussion going on in your workplace? Do you participate, or avoid doing so? Leave a comment below.