Don’t Look Back in Anger – Look Back and Learn

At Pelicam, we’ve always believed that the best organisations don’t just deliver change,  they learn from it.

That belief was reinforced recently in two very different arenas. First, at Wembley, with 90,000 voices belting out Oasis classics for two hours straight. Second, in the quieter but equally intense setting of a business-wide programme retrospective, where the chorus was one of insight rather than song.

The Value of a True Retrospective

The programme in question had run for three years, touching almost every part of the organisation. Our role was to conduct a full review: comb through all documentation, speak with 25 people closely involved, and distil the lessons that could shape future success.

What we found were four major patterns, what we call potential serial killers of change. These weren’t one-off mishaps; they were systemic issues that, left unaddressed, would continue to erode delivery confidence and business benefit.

The immediate impact? The client has commissioned us to review three current change programmes, applying these lessons before issues can take root again.

Why Reflection is a Strategic Capability

Across industries, we often see businesses moving rapidly from one major initiative to the next. On the surface, this creates momentum. In reality, without structured reflection, it risks carrying forward the same unexamined weaknesses in governance, capability, and decision-making, that compromised previous efforts.

Our framework embeds this learning discipline within two core themes:

1. Strategy & Roadmap – High-maturity organisations use retrospectives to test strategic alignment and validate whether delivery is genuinely advancing the business agenda. This links directly to portfolio prioritisation, do-ability assessments, and benefit tracking.

2. Governance – Lessons learned are not just “nice to know”, they should inform how decisions are made, how risks are managed, and how roles and accountabilities are set for the next cycle. Good governance isn’t static; it evolves with each delivery experience.

Embedding the Habit of Learning

In our assurance work with clients we’ve seen the payoff when leaders treat retrospectives as a non-negotiable governance step. It creates:

• Clearer decision-making – grounded in evidence, not assumption

• Improved delivery do-ability – avoiding repeat bottlenecks

• Higher confidence – from sponsors to delivery teams

• Stronger benefits realisation – because delivery is designed with past lessons in mind

  
  

Our Takeaway

Borrowing (and slightly reworking) the words of Liam and Noel: Don’t look back in anger. Look back and learn.

Every programme leaves a trail of insight. The organisations that consistently outperform are those that follow it.