Signs that someone you work with is struggling

1. Something is different: If you notice changes in a person’s mood or demeanor that is a sure sign that person is struggling. He or she might become irritable, easy to anger, and quick to rise to perceived bait. There will be a failure of humor. You will notice changes in body language – a slumped posture rather than sitting tall, a look of grim determination, a lack of spring in their step, a dull look in the eyes, facial expressions that communicate sadness. The person will be at odds with their colleagues. He or she will be defensive and throw up blocks to suggestions and offers of help. The person will avoid talking to colleagues and managers.
2.  It’s all too much: People who are struggling at work will be feeling quite overwhelmed. They will have trouble concentrating, will be easily distracted and will struggle to complete tasks. The quality of work produced will deteriorate. He or she will be unable to pull back to see the big picture. People will try and multi-task. As the brain is not able to multi-task people will get tangled in knots and in a complete muddle. People do not like to be seen as struggling and will try and hide their difficulties. Rather than ask for help they will dig their heels in and pursue strategies that are not working.
3.  Compliant People Pleasers: When the going gets tough managers who can’t cope might panic and resort to cracking the whip to get people going. Alas, when employees are afraid of their manager they will expend most of their energy on survival tactics; watching their back, pleasing their boss, becoming a ‘yes man’, currying favor, being compliant. Fear spreads like a virus and stops people in their tracks. Leaders should be wary of teams that appear too compliant, are not engaged in debate, are not producing good work and appear afraid of their boss.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
—Upton Sinclair (1935)

On October 21^st 2015 The New York Times reported the recall of the potentially defective Tamarac airbag.   This report described the recall of over 19 million cars made by 12 automakers in the United States alone to fix the potentially dangerous airbags; millions more have been recalled in other countries. It was initially stated by Toyota that there had been no related injuries involving its vehicles but The New York Times reported in September that at least 139 injuries had occurred across all automakers.   In June Honda confirmed the eighth death linked to the faulty airbags. The New York Times further reported that these faults were known about since as long ago as 2004.

Organizations running on fear are likely to engage in defensive behaviors that can result in cover-ups. Cover-ups happen when employees are more afraid of losing their jobs than of telling the truth. In a fearful culture there is no benefit in holding leadership to account; whistle-blowers are criticized, ostracized, punished, and fired. Agendas, strategies, projects and products that should be sent back to the drawing board are pushed forward. The results can be devastating for organizations and for customers.

The worst thing that can happen to an organization running on fear is that people die. Examples include:

• January 1986 – 7 crew members died when the Challenger Space shuttle crashed. NASA and the manufacturer Morton Thokol disregarded warnings about a catastrophic flaw in the O-rings.
• 2003/2004 – The FDA issued warnings about an increase in suicidal thoughts among children and adolescents prescribed SSRI antidepressants including Paxil and Zoloft.
• September 2012 – GlaxoSmithKline, the UK’s largest drug maker, set aside $3bn to settle charges relating to its hiding scientific evidence showing the drug Paxil (branded Seroxat in the UK) was dangerous when prescribed for children and adolescents. As many as 12 suicides were linked to SSRI’s.
• February 2014 – In the UK it was announced that the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was to be broken up. This was because of revelations that an estimated 500-1200 patients had died as a result of poor care between January 2005 and March 2009. Although unusually high death rates were noted as early as 2006, it took a whistle-blower to expose the problems and hold those responsible to account.
• 2014 – In the US the Phoenix VA hospital covered up the number of deaths to make statistics look better. Whistleblower Pauline DeWenter, a scheduling clerk working for the VA, was ordered to alter the records of waiting lists, and actual dates of deaths.
• August 2015 – 124 deaths and 275 injuries were linked to General Motor’s faulty ignition switch. GM initially said it was aware of 13 deaths. GM has set aside $625 million to pay victims.

In business cultures steeped in fear decisions may be driven solely by bottom-line delivery goals (‘do whatever is necessary to generate income’) rather than by aligning organizational values with individual values (‘do the right thing’). In a data-driven culture, the value of a human life plays second fiddle to cost-benefit analysis. For organizations basing decisions on cost-benefit ratios the cost of human lives may be small change when compared to driving forward faulty products or strategies that result in profits.

In April 2014 Jon Stewart criticized GM’s refusal to undertake costly repairs to their faulty ignition switch:

“They found out in 2001, they studied the problem for 4 years, did an internal cost-benefit analysis using your standard analytic, algorithm, barometric, PE ratio equations, and came up with ‘F**k it.'”