The UK Election and Challenges for the Next Governing Team

Well, it’s the night after the UK election and as the dust clears nothing seems certain. It looks like Labour has lost its mandate to govern but the Conservatives haven’t won a clear mandate so it looks like we are heading for a hung parliament. The markets certainly think so and sterling, gilts and equities have already come under pressure this morning following the inconclusive results.

Whatever the outcome and the make up of the next government, assuming it will be a hung parliament, it success will depend largely on how builds itself into and operates as a team. Failure to do so will result in another election in the not too distant future.

Therefore, today I thought it might be timely to post some ideas around how to get your people, whether in your cabinet or your business working like a TEAM…!

In my experience, high performing team have a number of shared attributes. These include:

1. Strong Leadership
   • This is not all about being authoritarian but being able to make the tough decisions and take responsibility for decisions, direction, outcomes, performance and the overall well-being of the team.
2. Shared Vision
   • If we’re not all pulling in the same direction and we don’t all understand why then there’s a probability there will be some ‘drag’ somewhere.
3. Agreed Rules of Behaviour
   
   • Really successful teams have certain rules and ways of behaving that define how they operate together, interact with customers etc
4. Action Plan
   • Who does what and by when. Hugely important as it lets everyone know where their contribution its into the overall picture and why their contribution matters.
5. Everybody is Involved All of the Time
   • A team needs all of its players on the field all of the time so it’s up to everyone to make sure that all are involved, included and engaged.
6. Accept That Mistakes Will Happen But They are Opportunities to Learn and Improve
   • Mistakes happen and blame culture doesn’t help. Great teams accept that mistakes will happen and choose to learn from them rather than dwell on them and blame others for what happened.
7. We Work Together to Train and Get Better
   • Guaranteed, we won’t know everything that we need to know when we get started so great teams commit to self and collective improvement along the way.

That’s all well and good. However, one of the most common areas that I see that teams fall down on is number 2 (Shared Vision) as often leadership can assume too easily that its vision is its team’s vision too. Huge mistake and huge assumption. Therefore, as the election results fully unfold and the shape of the next government and the future of the country emerges, I think the key to the success of the next government will be the way the leadership paints and engages its team members and partners in its vision. Like in business, if they do that and do it well we might see a coalition government govern for the next few years. If not, then we might be faced with another election within the next couple of years.

What do you think?

Thanks to pfidian for the photo