But "why not"
... being proactive instead of reactive.
In my first post, I mentioned how I like to be the person asking “Why Not.” Here’s what I mean by that.
In HR, you hear a lot about being proactive vs. reactive. Most of us are stuck being reactive because that’s how the systems work.
But here’s how I think about it.
Asking “why” is reactive. Asking “why not” is proactive.
Let’s say you’re rolling out a recognition program to give people space to recognize the great work of their peers. Some people will ask “why.” They’ll bring all the reasons it won’t work or why it’s not the best idea.
I ask “why not.”
The program might not be perfect. It might not get 100% adoption. But if you’ve done your research and you know what business problem you’re solving, you’ll see impact.
That’s being proactive instead of reactive.
We get too hung up on making things perfect or rolling things out flawlessly. I get that fear. We live and die by metrics. But what if we challenged that?
Let me give you a real example.
In a previous role, we had a problem. Managers didn’t have the HR knowledge they needed to be successful. So I suggested we create a learning program to teach them what they needed to know before small issues became big ones.
I was met with resistance. Leadership didn’t think it was worth the time. They wanted to keep the status quo.
So I asked “why not.”
This would keep HR problems from landing on my desk. This would give managers the tools to catch issues early. But I had to push for it.
In the end, we built the program. It worked. Managers got what they needed to spot HR concerns before they became lawyer letters on my desk.
In HR, we’re playing the long game. We’re here to make our businesses better, and that doesn’t happen overnight.
Some ideas fail. Some succeed.
But asking “why not” gets us to a place where we’re building something new instead of tearing something down because we’re scared. If we want to be true business partners, we need to be just as bold as the leaders we support.