Handling Difficult Directives

Dear Debbie,
I've been given a directive from my boss that I don't support. My team isn't going to like it, either. How do I deal with this in an honest way with my employees and yet be loyal to my boss and the company?

This is a tough situation that all leaders will find themselves in at some point in their careers. My first advice is to get as much information from your boss as you can. What is the rationale behind this directive? Is it strictly a business decision? Have all aspects of the directive been thought out thoroughly? Are the consequences clearly defined? Why do you oppose it and why will your team oppose it?
Gathering all the information that you can about the background of an unpopular directive will help you better explain and support it. If you remain adamantly opposed to it and cannot, after gathering all the facts, give your full support, think about whether you want to state your position to your boss in a one-on-one discussion with her or him. Maybe it truly is something that she or he has not thought through and your voice could give additional reason to the situation, perhaps even helping her or to shift their course of action.
Ultimately, it is your responsibility to execute the directive in a way that does not undermine your boss or company whether or not you support it. With your team, you should stand up and state the reason for the directive, explain all the facts, and stay focused on any upsides to carrying out the directive. You should never state to subordinates that you are being forced to implement a directive or that it is not your decision. Once you get to the point of conveying the instructions to your team, you should clearly take responsibility for doing so without ‘laying blame’ on others just because it is potentially unpopular. There will always be some positives in any situation, so identify and stress those. Especially in unpopular messages, always give your subordinates the ‘big picture’ explanation behind a directive, letting them know why it is important to the business and to the long-term success of the organization.
These are always difficult situations when you deal with them for the first time, but like everything else, with practice and a experience in navigating such problems you will handle tough directives with greater ease and success in the future.