When failure knocks at our door, it is often an overwhelming experience. We feel disappointment, frustration, sadness, or anger. Within these emotions lies confusion: Why? or How did this happen?
And while sometimes some failures just happen, many others possibly were silently announced behind our backs or loudly in front of our eyes.
In many of the stories of failure we hear at our events, we often find that red flags, or warning signs of imminent failure, were always there, but sometimes they were simply overlooked.
But why do we often choose to ignore them?
What Are Red Flags?
Red flags are those warning signs that indicate something might go wrong. They range from a warning on a first date to signs of toxic work environments. Today, we won't talk about those signals; instead, we'll discuss the ones that indicate a potential failure to occur in a startup, project, or process within a workspace.
It's normal to question which types of red flags are necessary to pay attention to; however, these can vary greatly depending on the project we're involved in. Some of the red flags we might consider are:
- Poor communication: There is usually a lack of clarity or expectations, which can lead to misunderstandings or a misuse of resources and efforts.
- Micromanagement: A leadership style where the manager excessively controls every detail of their employees' work, limiting their autonomy and reducing their confidence in making decisions.
- Toxic environment: Workspaces where gossip, favoritism, or harassment occur. These issues can harm trust, making it difficult to share opportunities or speak up about disagreements.
In specific cases, for example, if it is a project with a limited development time, a red flag might be that not all team members understand the urgency or the hiring of suppliers with a history of missing deadlines.
As we mentioned, red flags also depend on the context, the objectives, or what was initially deemed crucial for success. It will require the entire team to be vigilant for these warning signs.
Why Do We Avoid Them?
Generally, when we ignore potential failures or avoid analyzing a risky situation in depth, we talk about denial, a psychological defense mechanism people use to avoid facing uncomfortable or painful realities.
In the workplace, this can manifest as a tendency to ignore evident problems, believing they will disappear by themselves. This behavior can hinder personal and organizational growth by preventing necessary corrective actions from being taken.
The primary source of this denial is fear, a paralyzing emotion that affects many companies at any level. This fear can stem from concerns about potential consequences, negative feedback, or our image in work environments.
Ignoring potential problems in early stages can be related to various fear-derived factors such as:
- Ego: In competitive environments or leadership positions, there is often a reputation to maintain. Openly accepting mistakes or failures can be perceived as a sign of weakness or ineptitude. This ego makes it difficult to ask for help when we notice a flaw or deficiency.
- Poor failure management: Poor management of failure and potential risks can leave organization members without action plans or ways to communicate warning signs promptly. Additionally, once a failure occurs, there is no adequate way to address and solve the problem.
- Disproportionate consequences: The consequences that follow an error are also closely related to poor failure management, often implicating excessive punishments for those involved, generating even more fear among team members and reducing opportunities to communicate and repair mistakes.
- Lack of knowledge: When there is insufficient knowledge about action plans and communication, potential errors often go unnoticed. Lack of knowledge also means not knowing what should or shouldn't happen during a process or project.
- Aversion to conflict: The fear of getting involved in conflict is common in workplaces. To maintain a "harmonious" environment, we avoid crucial conversations that could point out warning signs.
- Meaningless consensus: Aversion to conflict is not the only obstacle when trying to contrast ideas; there is also a false understanding of consensus. Related to micromanagement, unanimous decisions without the opportunity to discuss or question can make decision-making feel irrelevant and create fear of dissenting when detecting a warning sign.
- Toxic positivity: As a denial mechanism, we may sometimes be overly optimistic about a delicate situation. While it's essential to remain positive, excessive positivity becomes harmful when we ignore warning signs, hoping they will resolve themselves, and choose not to ask for help.
All these factors can complicate our reaction and readiness when faced with a warning sign.
Strategies to Address Red Flags in Time
Now that we understand the reasons why we often ignore red flags or potential failures in the workplace, we can explore ways to prepare our teams to communicate these signals efficiently:
- Communication and transparency: While it may seem obvious, emphasizing the importance of communication is crucial. Teams should have clear objectives, expectations, and realistic goals. Improvements involve clear written and spoken communication, considering both the ability to communicate and to listen effectively and allowing various voices to speak up without dominating conversations.
- Diversity: A diverse team brings different perspectives to a project. By including various backgrounds, viewpoints, experiences, and contexts, we enrich teams with diverse insights that can identify warning signs and even development opportunities.
- Practice vulnerability: When an organization allows its members to be vulnerable and open, it becomes easier to share sensitive information. This vulnerability looks like creating spaces for team members to get to know each other on a personal level, dedicating time for socializing or team-building activities, and emphasizing the human aspect of the people within the team.
An excellent way to start opening these spaces for dialogue and trust is through our Fuckup Nights events for companies. With carefully curated stories of failure we present your team with an innovative and inspiring event to learn from mistakes.
Learn more here.
- Share knowledge: A team with the same knowledge and understanding of priorities will detect warning signs promptly. This knowledge can take the form of training sessions, workshops, and sharing lessons learned from previous mistakes, increasing the ability to detect red flags.
- Failure management: An organization that manages failure correctly can shape its culture to see failure as an opportunity for growth. It has explicit action processes for adverse events, involves people in solutions instead of punishing and humiliating them, and has clear strategies and procedures to build resilience in various aspects of the organization.
- Psychological safety: Teams with psychological safety can communicate more effectively, give their best effort, engage in their activities, and care about collective success. This environment allows for the identification and communication of potential challenges or problems and enables the team to work together for the common good.
- Be realistic: Finally, realism is necessary to accept that things are not going well. Recognize that things don't always go as planned and that it's okay to feel afraid of failure. This objectivity often allows for changes, project stoppages, or necessary adjustments.
In the workplace, we can easily overlook warning signs of significant problems that could impact our well-being and the company's success. Whether due to pressure to meet deadlines, a desire to maintain harmony, or simply a lack of experience.
That's why we must ensure everyone understands that identifying and communicating these signs as soon as possible is more important, as the consequences can be just as significant or even more significant.
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