No-trust leadership: how not to launch anything

Last week over 55,000 people viewed my LinkedIn post about the disastrous launch announcement of the UK General Election by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak . It set out just why the whole thing was a shambles, made worse by the PM's inability to respond in a human way to the rain and noise which overshadowed anything he had to say.

Since then, it's become even more clear that the whole process has broken every rule in the high trust leadership manual, with predictable results for the confidence even his own team have in him. In this article I will look at why this is the case.

He didn't trust his own team

Since the launch it's become clear that the announcement was as big a surprise to most of those in the Cabinet as it was to the rest of us. The top team, who are tasked with running the country, weren't brought into the decision in any way. In short, they were not trusted.

And those who don't trust others are rarely trusted themselves.

Here's a typical headline from the day of the announcement.

BBC, 23rd May

I totally get the need for confidentiality, the fear of leaks. But to have so totally blindsided his colleagues with no preparation at all was to have neglected the number one rule of high trust leadership: bring the team with you.

That morning a minister had morning brushed away speculation about an election in a radio interview. How do you think he felt when he learned he'd been made to look a fool?

This was classic top-down controller-leader behaviour

Last Wednesday Rishi Sunak called the most senior Cabinet ministers to a meeting. Here's how Tim Shipman of The Times reported on what happened.

Some of those summoned, knowing an election was on the cards, were delighted the prime minister had finally decided to consult senior elected politicians, many of whom think their political touch is defter than Sunak’s. Here was the “kitchen cabinet” off which to bounce ideas they had long suggested he set up.
Then Sunak said: “I have been to see the King. This is my decision. I’ll explain it to you and then, when we go next door, I’ll call on you to speak and I want you to back me." Far from a consultation exercise, this was a private rubber-stamping of a decision already made.

Can you imagine a CEO calling a meeting, announcing a huge controversial decision, then asking their colleagues to immediately go into a company leadership meeting and only say supportive things about something they have just heard about? If you can, then you'll be familiar with the now very outdated method of controller-leadership which is purely top down. Do as I say because I am the boss.

You may get immediate compliance. You will not get loyalty or highly motivated colleagues. Once again, you will have damaged trust.

The opposite of being high trust is being transactional. That is what this is.

In our book 'Choose Trust' we set out the three dimensions of trust. The first of these is clarity - but this isn't about simply making a clear decision, it is about getting shared ambition, shared ownership of outcomes and alignment of the team behind an agreed and well understood aim. Rishi failed in this.

The second dimension is character, which about behaviours. These should deliver on the promise set out in clarity and consistently build trusted relationships. This is the key failure here: the way in which this decision was handed down with no consultation or collaboration is a failure of character.

The third is capability, to which we will now turn our attention.

Make sure everything and everyone is ready when you move

Capability in a high trust relationship is about what those involved can achieve together that they cannot do separately. It looks at the way they work together to achieve the ambition set out in the process of clarity.

In this case it's about the capability of the Conservatives to win the election, or more realistically do as well as they possibly can from such a low starting position. In a high trust relationship the fundamental approach is one of interdependence. We all win or lose together and so we make sure there's transparency in what we're doing and why.

You can see why this is yet another failure. This must be one of the first times the leader has called an election at a time when his own side is far less prepared than the opposition. To quote the BBC reporter on the day of the announcement:

“Labour MPs are happy. We’re not. That tells a story,” one minister fumed in my general direction as he reeled off a list of legislation he had been involved in, now headed for the shredder.

That’s just one illustration of the explosive mood in Westminster on Wednesday evening as Conservative MPs reacted to Rishi Sunak’s sudden announcement of a July election with reactions ranging from enthusiasm to outrage.

Labour had prepared itself for a May election. It appears to have everything in place for a July one.

Meanwhile 77 Tory MPs have announced they're standing down and so in the 6-week election window new candidates have to be found, agreed by local parties, and somehow convince local voters that they've always wanted to be an MP for their constituency. This at a time when there appear to be very few safe Conservative seats.

Meanwhile the core Sunak team have clearly been preparing for this, making a plethora of new promises - from a new national service to ring fencing pensions - which no-one else seems to have known about. This can be seen as leading from the front. But if you are a front line Conservative candidate - or even, it seems, a leading Cabinet minister - you are having to very quickly get up to speed on just exactly what you now stand for.

At least look like a leader

And so we come again to that drowned rat, drowned out announcement on the steps of Number 10 Drowning Street. A great exciting kick off can galvanise the team and motivate people to overlook some of the problems that inevitably happen in a big, complex campaign like an election. But a damp squib of a launch, which is so clearly a shambles, requires that everything else is smooth and effective.

If you did a poor pitch but were immediately fantastic in delivery, that initial judgement could be forgotten.

Unfortunately, so far so bad. None of this is a political analysis, and as I made clear in my original article, I am sad and angry that the Prime Minister of my country looked so terrible. It does not help with the UK's global reputation, and I want to feel the country is well run whoever is in power.

Just as those who work for organisations want to know they can believe and trust their leadership and are being brought along on the journey. The lessons for all leaders are many and painful from the first week of this campaign. I hope there are some positive ones in the weeks ahead. But I’m not holding my breath.

If this resonates, do contact stuart.maister@strategic-narrative.com. I coach, consult and train leaders and rainmakers build high trust, high value relationships with their team and key clients, and give keynotes on strategic storytelling and how to build trust.