Disagree and commit is a management principle that individuals are allowed to disagree while a decision is being made, but that once a decision has been made, everybody must commit to implementing the decision. Disagree and commit is a method of avoiding the consensus trap, in which the lack of consensus leads to inaction.[1][2]
History
Scott McNealy used the phrase as early as some time between 1983 and 1991, as part of the line "Agree and commit, disagree and commit, or get out of the way".[3]: 39 [4]
Amazon added "Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit" as one of its leadership principles some time in 2010–2011.[8] Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mentioned the term in his "2016 Letter to Shareholders".[9]
^Lencioni, Patrick (March 14, 2012). The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN9781118266106. Great teams avoid the consensus trap by embracing a concept that Intel, the legendary microchip manufacturer, calls "disagree and commit." Basically they believe that even when people can't come to an agreement around an issue, they must still leave the room umambiguously committed to a common course of action.
^Ballard, Greg (November 15, 2006). "Agree and Commit, Disagree and Commit". Stanford eCorner. Archived from the original on June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019. This is a phrase, agree and commit, disagree and commit, that actually comes from Scott McNealy. At least that's where I was told it was from.
^Lencioni, Patrick (November 20, 2014). "Why Great Leadership Fuels Innovation". Inc.com. Retrieved July 2, 2017. At Intel, Grove demanded not only that his people argue well, but also that they leave those argument-rich meetings fully committed to the decisions that had been made. His famous axiom "disagree and commit" captures an essential truth: Failure to capitalize on a new idea often has far less to do with the quality of the idea than with the indecision and waffling that accompany it.
^"About Amazon - Working at Amazon - Our Leadership Principles". Amazon. Retrieved July 2, 2017. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.
^"Netflix Culture". Netflix. You debate ideas openly, and help implement whatever decision is made even when you disagree.
^"GitLab Values". GitLab. Retrieved July 2, 2017. Disagree and commit Everything can be questioned but as long as a decision is in place we expect people to commit to executing it, which is a common principle.
