Why declaring success too soon can scupper your change plans

In the UK, we had a lot of coverage recently of our education secretary, Gillian Keegan. At the end of a TV interview, she was still wearing her microphone - and it was still switched on. 

She had been talking about the crisis (now in full force) about crumbling concrete in hundreds of schools. Many of these buildings had to be closed just before the start of term. 

She was still wearing the microphone, when she (apparently) asked herself, “Does anyone ever say: you know what, you’ve done a f**king good job, because everyone else has sat on their a**e and done nothing. No signs of that, no?” 

However, aside from this mis-step being another story that will be forever shared in media training as the way ‘not to do it’, it’s also an interesting example of a leader declaring success too early and from their perspective.

Ms Keegan was seeking positive feedback for recognition on a job which, for most of us, had barely started. At this stage all we’d seen had been announcements that some schools would close the week before term began, and why.  

But for the education secretary, who’d been working behind the scenes on this for a lot longer, she was looking for compliments on what she’d done. She had an inside view that very few of us had. 

The result? A slightly baffled and bemused public who couldn’t understand why she’d be complimented on something that had barely started. 

I often see this from leadership teams who declare success on a change from their perspective – just like Ms Keegan - and are equally bewildered when they don’t get positive feedback.  

A fabulous analogy that could help leaders to avoid this whenever they’re dealing with change, came from a listener on BBC Radio 5 Live in response to this story:

“I quite like a compliment and being told I’ve done well when I’ve cooked dinner, but I don’t search for that compliment half-way through cooking it.  I wait until I’ve finished the process.”

When a change is completed right to the end, then celebrate the bigger successes or apportion blame. It’s great to share small wins along the way, but you must understand how all these will be perceived by everyone involved – not just by you and your leadership team. 

Or you’ll be as baffled and bewildered as Ms Keegan. 

If you’d like to discuss how you can make change better for everyone involved, please get in touch. If you’d like to join the Twist community and receive our weekly newsletter, you can subscribe here.

Image: Andrea-piacquadio - Pexels