#49 - Open and honest reporting - or is it?
19 Feb 25
In a project review, if you are being continually being presented with a 'sea of greens' then you need to be asking why.
It may be that an area was 'green' once. But is it now?
Embracing and encouraging an open, honest and transparent reporting culture will help you determine whether what you see is the truth or not.
Interogate your 'greens' so you can understand the risk that you hold. This will allow you to focus your effort in those areas which really need it.
This edition is sponsored by Kajabi - the one stop shop solution for entrepreneurs hoping to start an online business. Use my affiliate link below to receive an increased trial period from 14 to 30 days - only for Springboard Spotlight readers!
Whether you're an aspiring or seasoned entrepreneur, Kajabi is the platform to help you monetize your skills & knowledge. It's an all-in-one platform that lets you transform your expertise into income through online courses, membership sites, community building, and personalized coaching tools.
#49 - Open and honest reporting - or is it?
What?
I think we have all been there in meetings focussed on reporting project status. They use an agreed system which is common across all projects to highlight where we are doing well, not so well, and where the issues lie.
Regardless of the method used to do this, the aims are the same. That is to provide a visual overview, normally through the use of colour coding, to quickly focus in on the areas requiring some form of action or intervention.
Why?
On paper this is a great system. One method to do this is the BRAG system. Essentially, BRAG stands for Blue, Red, Amber and Green.
- Blue - means completed.
- Red - means attention urgently required and there is no plan in place at the moment to address it.
- Amber - means attention is required, a plan is in place to address it, but the plan has slipped and is therefore behind schedule.
- Green - means 'move along, there's nothing to see here!' Ultimately, a plan is in place, everything is going to plan and you are on track to complete (i.e. achieve a 'Blue' status).
The issue is the whole system relies on open and honest reporting for it to work properly. Having used this system for some time, I can assure you that this rarely happens. Why?
Because some people seem to have a fundamental problem with the colour 'red' and see it as a public indicator writ large of their failure to do their jobs. They do not want any more attention focussed on their project than is absolutely necessary lest something more serious is found.
This typically results in 'sunshine reporting' where everything is perfect and no bad news ever gets to see the light of day. In a formal review, this manifests itself as a 'sea of green' in a slide pack.
As a leader, this is potentially disastrous since what is really going on gets masked. The leader then has absolutely no idea how much risk is actually being held by them. Consequently they are being lulled into a false sense of security.
This is bad news!
How?
So what's the best way to get around this issue and to try and re-instil some confidence into the operation?
The two simple steps below are a good place to start:
- Encourage your staff to report more on the pessimistic side than optimistically. There should be no shame in reporting a 'red'. If anything it should drive your confidence in their integrity and honesty; key values in team members,
- If 'greens' are being successively reported, interrogate them to see if they actually are 'greens'. It may well be that they were 'green'...once! But are they still 'green' or has that status actually changed but not been noticed through a reporting habit.
It is pointless reprting the status of a project, if that status is not actually reflective of what is going on on the ground.
An open reporting culture is driven from the top and it is the leader's responsibility to ensure that a 'no blame' culture is encouraged!
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
Having a clear overview of the status of your project allows you to apply focus in the right areas. You will not be able to do this if your team are being economic with the truth. A transparent and open reporting culture is the solution; one which allows you to interrogate those 'greens' so you can see where the risk truly lies.
Have a great week!
Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you:
- Resources - Reading is an essential component to developing your own authentic leadership style. Check out my resources page for really inspiring books which I have found invaluable within my own leadership journey,
- Coach Station - Singular issue 60 minute coaching sessions,
- Coach Journey - Bespoke coaching packages of 6 or 12 sessions for transformative change,
- Schedule Optimiser - Online course allowing you to take back control of your diary.
Responses