Project Management - Fixing Green Light Syndrome

𝐈𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞?

🤔 Your project dashboard is a sea of green but you know something's off. 

🤔 Your status updates say everything is on track, your weekly reports are all positive. But you know that it's not accurate.

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞!

Green Light Syndrome occurs when teams systematically under-report risks, gloss over issues, and paint an unrealistically rosy picture of project health.

Team members aren't lying per se, but they are self-protecting in an environment where bad news feels dangerous.

And this results in leaders operating with a false sense of security until problems become too big to hide.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

Why do smart, capable teams fall into this trap?

⚠️ 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭.No one wants to be the person who "can't handle it" or needs constant help.

⚠️ 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞.  If raising concerns historically leads to blame rather than support, people learn quickly to stay quiet.

⚠️ 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬. We genuinely believe we can solve problems before they become "real" issues worth escalating.

⚠️ 𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲. When green status reports get nods and yellow ones trigger interrogations, the incentive structure is clear.

The fix isn't better status reports or more oversight. It's creating genuine psychological safety where early warnings are valued, not punished.

Scroll through the carousel to see 3 phrases that can help change the conversation.

The healthiest projects have a mix of colours on the dashboard because honest teams surface issues while they're still manageable. If everything looks perfect, you're probably not looking hard enough, or your team doesn't feel safe showing you what's really happening.

How do you encourage honest project reporting on your team?