Over two (!) years ago, I posted on how you could learn various employment law lessons from television shows such as Lost or The Office.
Among the lessons at the time: Make Alliances, Follow your Instincts and Find Success as a Team.
Another theme that the show continually relied upon: If you can’t live together, you’ll die alone. It’s a good lesson in team dynamics; companies that have employees that work well together, thrive.
With last night’s Lost finale (for those that haven’t yet seen it, this post is Spoiler-Free), there are some new posts that again try to distill lessons from this iconic show. Mark Toth’s Manpower Employment Blawg hits the mark pretty well. Among the lessons he advocates:
- Be careful whom you follow.
- Adversity = Opportunity.
- Keep key stakeholders engaged
I’d add another item: Whatever happened, happened. It’s a key theme of the show: letting go of whatever has been holding you (or the company) back.
For human resource professionals, it’s easy to look back with hindsight and question decisions that have been made. It’s easy to get caught up in a blame game. But it’s far more difficult to look forward using the lessons that you’ve learned to build a new approach.
Never let your past practices hold your company back. If there’s been something that should be changed that you’ve identified, use this summer has a time to develop that plan of action to make the changes needed. And asking for help from a legal counsel isn’t a sign a weakness — it’s a sign that you recognize your flaws and need help correcting them.
For more on lessons learned from television shows, don’t miss the That’s What She Said blog recapping The Office and a great post from HR Hero about LOST.