"Don't Be Afraid To Let Them See RED!"

I continue to enjoy my career as a management consultant, polishing up on best practices (especially around the soft skills), mentoring and speaking on various management topics and learning from the many people I am fortunate to come in contact with. I have observed many corporate management practices that are very effective as well as those that could be greatly improved upon. One such area that could really use improvement is...transparency.

All too often I encounter managers who are reluctant to report an accurate status out of fear. There is a general fear that senior management does not want to see or hear bad news. In fact, at previous clients of mine I was told not to report a RED status on anything (no matter how dire the situation) because it would attract too much negative attention from senior management. Their belief was that a great deal of chaos results when this kind of status is reported.

So it strikes me as funny, that although many corporate cultures continue to embrace the traditional RAG (RED/AMBER/GREEN) Status, the only colors they really want on a report are GREEN and AMBER. This is not only a bad management practice, it contributes to many failed initiatives. By not allowing the needed level of transparency, major issues are being masked only to surface later, to be handled in a highly reactive manner and yield far less value while increasing unnecessary costs for the organization.

From experience, it is my strong belief that you should "Let Them See RED!" This RED status needs to be embraced like an honest friend who is not afraid to tell-us-like-it-is! The RED status does get attention and people moving! Long after something has remained a solid AMBER with no movement toward success, a RED just may be warranted. Keep in mind, you must demonstrate solid supporting metrics when showing a RED status but do report it fearlessly; knowing that you are contributing to your initiative's ultimate success.

Here are five reasons why you should't fear reporting a justified RED status:

1) It draws a clear focus on the items that are putting the initiative in jeopardy. An "all hands on deck" mentality activates key resources to band together and collaboratively work through roadblocks hindering success.

2) It gives senior management a view into "real" areas of concern and gets them involved where other levels of management may not be as effective. Senior management would rather get involved now, avoiding future unpleasant surprises which have been masked by a false GREEN or AMBER status.

3) It gets all team members more deeply focused on the areas of their responsibility to proactively check for potential challenges. This will aid in the avoidance of major issues as target dates of critical milestones approach.

4) It helps foster a higher level of discipline in the communication of an initiative's planning, tracking and status/metrics reporting.

5) It provides transparency that will create greater confidence in the integrity of the overall status reporting, tools, metrics and success predictability on an ongoing basis.

Although reporting a RED status can be uncomfortable, it can be the difference between successful initiatives vs. ones that just got away. Remember, reporting a little RED now may lead to a lot of "true" GREEN later! And remember, a corporate culture that embraces open and honest transparency unlocks the opportunity for greater collaboration creating peaceful and productive work environments for its employees!



All the best!,

Ron



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