Like you, both northerners and southerners can be opinionated, but understanding cultural context and creating inclusive practices is critical in company policy development to mitigate possible negative resistance. Here are some suggestions to consider: 1. **Communicate with all stakeholders**: Make sure to include employees from different departments and geographic locations (both north and south) when developing policies. Encourage open discussion, questions, and feedback. 2. **Respect regional differences**: Recognize regional differences and consider how they affect relationships within the company in policy development. Avoid using language or policies that could be seen as favoring one region or group over another. 3. **Establish clear expectations**: Develop clear, concise, and easy-to-understand policies and procedures. Make sure employees clearly understand the company's values, mission, and goals, and explain how these policies are implemented into daily work. 4. **Foster a collaborative culture**: Create a collaborative work environment by promoting cooperation, collaboration, and mutual respect among team members, departments, and regions. This can help build trust and mitigate conflict. 5. **Provide training and support**: Provide training and support to employees to help them understand and adapt to the new policies. Provide resources and guidance to ensure they feel empowered to implement the new procedures. 6. **Make policies actionable**: Ensure policies are actionable across the company to avoid unnecessary stress or frustration for employees. 7. **Solicit feedback and involve employees in the decision-making process**: Regularly solicit feedback and suggestions from employees in different regions. This can help employees feel heard and valued, thereby reducing passive resistance. 8. **Conduct interruption tests**: Consider conducting policy drills or tests to identify potential issues or inconsistencies before rolling out policies to the entire company. 9. **Celebrate diversity and inclusion**: Cultivate a culture that values and respects all employee backgrounds, identities, and perspectives. This can help build trust and create an environment where all employees feel valued. 10. **Leaders lead by example**: Ensure leaders and managers are role models in exemplifying company values and policies. Leaders should demonstrate a positive attitude and show employees how policies are conducive to the company's growth and success. By implementing these strategies, you can reduce passive resistance from northern employees, or even all employees, and cultivate a more inclusive, respectful, and productive work environment.