Disagree, then Commit

Politics have been front and center this past week. With presidential debates, Supreme Court decisions, and European elections, everywhere I turn, I'm informed that either the world is ending or things are finally looking up.

I don't know which side you are on; frankly, I don't care. I am going to assume that you study the issues and vote according to your conscience. Excellent job!

But, regardless of what any court or ballot box says, you've got to move forward.

Not everything goes your way

Last week, Netflix released a new Culture Memo built around this concept: disagree, then commit. They stated that they listen to their employees but ultimately have to make a decision. It's impossible for a company the size of Netflix to get 100 percent employee buy-in on every project. It's also impossible to get work done if the people who disagreed refused to move forward on projects.

This is a basic principle of Improv Comedy: Yes, and. This is where you accept what the audience or your ensemble members throw at you and build from there.

It's how you deal with leadership, team members, family members, and, ultimately, the government.

You can complain that you hate the new Chevron decision, or you can say, "How does this affect my day-to-day HR leadership?"

The tragedy of having to rewrite your lectures, because the law changed, is understandable. I just rewrote my FMLA webinar: FMLA Compliance in 2024: A Comprehensive Guide & Strategies for Effective Implementation , because of a new court decision. My options were to cry that it's unfair and stop teaching FMLA or to "yes, and," the court decision and change my webinar. I chose the latter.

You can disagree with many things—and in politics, you can work to change them—but in your work life, once the decision is made, you need to go ahead and commit.

I don't get to say, "Well, current case law on FMLA is X, but I prefer how it was last year, so that's what I'll keep doing with my employees."

You don't get to say, "Well, I disagree with the Supreme Court/President/Congress/CEO/New FLSA Minimum Exempt Salary/etc so I'm going to ignore it."

I mean, you can, of course. You probably won't like the consequences, though. And as an HR person, your primary responsibility is to help the business succeed. To do that, you need to accept reality and move forward.

It's not just government

Your CEO will make decisions that you disagree with. They may be big or small. There are definitely deal breakers--things that you would quit your job ove r. If it's a deal breaker then do walk off stage, so to speak. (Incidentally, as I tell my beginning improv students, "yes, and" means you accept what your audience or ensemble members say as the reality, but you can always walk away. When I'm performing "genre roller coaster," where we do a scene that changes as the audience calls out movie genres when inevitably someone says "porn," I say, "Nope! Next genre!")

But if it's not a deal breaker, you need to express your concerns before the decision and then commit to supporting it after. Otherwise, you end up with a divided leadership team. Ultimately, employees and clients will struggle more if you tell them, "Well, this is the policy, but I think it's dumb," then they would if you say, "This is the policy. How can we make it work for you?"

Accept the new reality and move foward. Make whatever adjustments you need to make with the new changes, and work to be in compliance and have happy, engaged employees.