Point Lookout: a free weekly publication of Chaco Canyon Consulting
Volume 24, Issue 32;   August 7, 2024: When Retrospectives Turn into Blamefests: III

When Retrospectives Turn into Blamefests: III

by

Although retrospectives do foster organizational learning, they come with a risk of degeneration into blame and retaliation. One source of this risk is how we responded to issues uncovered in prior retrospectives.
An image representing a bipolar blamefest (one in which there are just two sides)

An image representing a bipolar blamefest (one in which there are just two sides). Multipolar blamefests are possible, but they don't last long because they're so chaotic. The chaos usually causes the facilitator of the retrospective to call a halt or otherwise take a break, in part, because failing to do so could call attention to the facilitator's loss of control.

Because retrospectives are such effective tools for fostering organizational learning, avoiding them altogether as a means of preventing blamefests is a sacrifice few organizations can afford. In the past two posts, I offered guidelines for conducting retrospectives more safely, and for preparing participants to approach the exercise more confidently. In this post I offer three suggestions for steps to take after retrospectives to make future retrospectives less likely to degenerate into blamefests.

Measures that we can deploy following the retrospective

Rename the retrospective
Because some of the problem comes from past bad experiences, it's possible that the name retrospective (or lessons-learned, or retro, or review, whatever) is part of the problem. Past blamefests or other unpleasant experiences have attached themselves to the name of the event. Only repeated successful experiences with the form can relieve it of this baggage.
As with many verbal associations, "If you want to tame it, you must name it." Acknowledge that you're setting aside the association of the word retrospective (or lessons-learned, or retro, or review, whatever) with the kind of blame-focused exercise you conducted in the past. Acknowledge this by using a different name.
Address causes of diminished psychological safety
Blaming is rarely the problem. More often,
it's a symptom of the real problem, which
is a low level of psychological safety.
Some participants who blame other participants for having caused some kind of undesirable outcome are doing so either in retaliation for having been blamed, or at least, for what they perceive as having been blamed. Others do so preemptively, because they believe they are about to be blamed. Environments in which people engage with each other in this way have at least one thing in common — people working in such environments feel that they are in danger. That is, people feel psychologically unsafe.
In such environments, blaming is rarely the problem. More often, blaming is a symptom of the real problem, which is a low level of psychological safety. I've written in previous posts about indicators of low levels of psychological safety. [Brenner 2023] Assess your organization to determine whether this is an issue.
Attribute outcomes more to the behavior of groups and less to individuals
In organizations in which leaders attribute outcomes to the actions of individuals, there is a risk of inducing fear of blame even when no blaming has occurred. People then bring this fear of blame with them when they join the retrospective session. They adopt defensive attitudes, and some engage in preemptive blaming as part of their defense strategies.
But attributing failures or successes to the actions of individuals isn't merely risky. In most organizations it's also wrong. It's wrong because very little of the work of modern organizations is attributable to the actions of individuals. Nearly every outcome is the result of actions of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people.

Last words

Most important, conduct a retrospective about recent retrospectives. Identify those members of the family of retrospective disorders that were actually observable in recent retrospectives. For example, describe incidents of blaming in ways that protect the identities of blamers. A second example: with a view toward understanding why past "lessons learned" weren't learned, list any "lessons learned" from previous retrospectives that the organization evidently did not learn. Applying what we know about retrospectives to learn how to conduct more effective retrospectives seems only sensible.  When Retrospectives Turn into Blamefests: I First issue in this series  Go to top Top  Next issue: Project Procrastination  Next Issue

101 Tips for Managing Conflict Are you fed up with tense, explosive meetings? Are you or a colleague the target of a bully? Destructive conflict can ruin organizations. But if we believe that all conflict is destructive, and that we can somehow eliminate conflict, or that conflict is an enemy of productivity, then we're in conflict with Conflict itself. Read 101 Tips for Managing Conflict to learn how to make peace with conflict and make it an organizational asset. Order Now!

Footnotes

Comprehensive list of all citations from all editions of Point Lookout
[Brenner 2023]
Richard Brenner. "Contrary Indicators of Psychological Safety: I," Point Lookout blog, December 13, 2023. Available here. Back

Your comments are welcome

Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrenDJpmhgyaDTwBQXkhner@ChacmGoYuzfZpOvDQdRkoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.

About Point Lookout

This article in its entirety was written by a 
          human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Conflict Management:

Professor John Walker Gregory and Sir Clements MarkhamObstructionist Tactics: II
Teams and groups depend for their success on highly effective cooperation between their members. If even one person is unable or unwilling to cooperate, the team's performance is limited. Here's Part II of a little catalog of tactics.
Muhammad Ali in 1967Rope-A-Dope in Organizational Politics
Mohammed Ali's strategy of "rope-a-dope" has wide application. Here's an example of applying it to workplace politics at the organizational scale.
A schematic representation of the flagellar components of Salmonella enterica serovar TyphimuriumWhen Over-Delivering Makes Trouble
When responding to inquiries such as "Is that correct?" we sometimes err by giving too many reasons why it's incorrect. Patterns of over-delivery can lead to serious trouble. Here's how.
The U.S. and Russian delegations meet to negotiate the New Start TreatyFace-Off Negotiations
In difficult face-to-face negotiations — or any face-to-face negotiations — seating arrangements do matter. Here's an exploration of one common seating pattern.
The flagship store of the Market Basket supermarket chainCreating Toxic Conflict: I
Many managers seem to operate as if their primary goal is to create toxic conflict among their subordinates. Here's a collection of methods for sowing toxic conflict that can help bad managers become worse managers.

See also Conflict Management and Conflict Management for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Grissom, White, and Chaffee in front of the launch pad containing their AS-204 space vehicleComing May 14: Working with the Overconfident
A cognitive bias known as the Overconfidence Effect causes us to overestimate the reliability of our judgments. Decisions we make based on those judgments are therefore suspect. But there are steps we can take to make our confidence levels more realistic, and thus make our decisions more reliable. Available here and by RSS on May 14.
A Strangler Fig in AustraliaAnd on May 21: Mismanaging Project Managers
Most organizations hold project managers accountable for project performance. But they don't grant those project managers control of needed resources. Nor do they hold project sponsors or other senior managers accountable for the consequences of their actions when they interfere with project work. Here's a catalog of behaviors worth looking at. Available here and by RSS on May 21.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenDJpmhgyaDTwBQXkhner@ChacmGoYuzfZpOvDQdRkoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

Reprinting this article

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Follow Rick

Send email or subscribe to one of my newsletters Follow me at LinkedIn Follow me at Bluesky, or share a post Subscribe to RSS feeds Subscribe to RSS feeds
The message of Point Lookout is unique. Help get the message out. Please donate to help keep Point Lookout available for free to everyone.
Technical Debt for Policymakers BlogMy blog, Technical Debt for Policymakers, offers resources, insights, and conversations of interest to policymakers who are concerned with managing technical debt within their organizations. Get the millstone of technical debt off the neck of your organization!
Go For It: Sometimes It's Easier If You RunBad boss, long commute, troubling ethical questions, hateful colleague? Learn what we can do when we love the work but not the job.
303 Tips for Virtual and Global TeamsLearn how to make your virtual global team sing.
101 Tips for Managing ChangeAre you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or maybe even outright revolt?
101 Tips for Effective MeetingsLearn how to make meetings more productive — and more rare.
Exchange your "personal trade secrets" — the tips, tricks and techniques that make you an ace — with other aces, anonymously. Visit the Library of Personal Trade Secrets.
If your teams don't yet consistently achieve state-of-the-art teamwork, check out this catalog. Help is just a few clicks/taps away!
Ebooks, booklets and tip books on project management, conflict, writing email, effective meetings and more.