We’re in this together…so where are we going?

Jack Welch isn’t without his critics, but he’s eminently quotable.  “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion,” he says.  And while the ‘big vision’ thing can lead to cynicism (how many big visions actually get followed through?) it’s an important part of tying people into a project.

Linstock often works for large partnerships.  If we can’t get the partners bought into some core objectives at the outset, and if we can’t show there’s something in it for everyone, then the project will fail.  Within each partner organisation a host of individuals then need to be enthused.  They need to know that the hard work ahead is worth it because they can see some tangible improvement in the future.  No-one wants a whole lot of hassle and graft if they don’t understand what the result will look like.

This ‘buy in’ process is something the Coalition is grappling with at the moment.  Today’s Queen’s Speech was an opportunity to take it on, but the consensus seems to be it is an opportunity missed.  Broadly speaking the electorate seems to accept that we need to tighten our belts, though there is plenty of debate about how much.  But there isn’t much sense of how things will be better when the debts are paid.  This isn’t about a return to growth – which is more of a process than a goal in itself.  It’s about a tangible sense of the lives we can lead and the prospects of children and young people.  What type of society will we be a part of?  

Staying in for months on end while you pay off a credit card is hard.  But it’s a whole lot easier if you focus on the extra cash you’ll have each month when the slate is cleared.  The electorate understands that these are ‘difficult times’ and there is ‘hard work ahead’.  We hear the phrases often enough.  But what will be the upside when the hard work is done?  There is a major project taking place without its millions of partners understanding their common goal.    

The Queen’s Speech is being positioned as a set of measures to support the family, but with child benefit changes about to kick in this could be a difficult sell.  It’s tough for a Government beset by problems to articulate a vision at the best of times, let alone when the vision is different in each camp of the Coalition.  The danger is that in the absence of a common goal people look for a common enemy.  

Jon Bennett

Director

jon@linstockcommunications.com