Planning for U-turns can turn them into a positive

They are bound up with notions of poor preparation, missing political footwork, weak arguments and a perceived lack of courage to see difficult things through. Sometimes U-turns are necessary to correct an error; but are they always a bad thing? Making elegant U-turns, alongside careful experimentation, are part of the skillset of the effective leader – whether you call it having an escape plan or keeping an open mindset.

In the complex world of children’s services, there’s quite a few areas where thinking about how you’d change your mind in advance is a helpful risk management strategy. Take practice with children and families. Despite the most diligent thoughtful social work, some new information or source of family support regularly emerges that, at the last minute, makes the carefully crafted plan look and feel clumsy or wrong. Making a U-turn to grab this new, equally sustainable, opportunity is the right thing to do. Sometimes the biggest barrier to changing course is getting caught in the mindset of sticking to your guns because you don’t want to waste the work done or you are making a false assumption about the positive impact of your more tried and tested approach. Sometimes it’s the sheer embarrassment or stress in making the counter argument.