As children we learned to look both ways at railroad crossings; the school bus driver would sometimes wait for an eternity for us to be quiet. Making sure to do everything she could to keep us safe from an coming train, our leader looked carefully and listened intently for danger signals.

Your workplace may be sending danger signals to you, too. Sometimes coping problems come from personal situations and affect only one or two team members. When that’s the case you should coach the employees individually. But sometimes, thanks to a more widespread disturbance like a merger or industry meltdown, coping challenges saturate your whole work unit.

Here are twelve signs your workplace may face a coping crisis:

Fretting: In normal times, moaning, whining and moping are not appreciated or tolerated. If fretting behavior becomes so widespread that it begins to seem normal, it’s time to intervene.

Forgetting: Let’s say normally punctual employees start arriving late or give you blank stares when you remind them of deadlines they said they’d meet. Obviously, their minds are no longer focused on the job. If this happens frequently, poor coping could be the cause.

Catastrophizing (Assuming the Worst Possible Outcome): You might notice that usually level-headed employees have lost their ability to think rationally, seeing the worst possible outcome as if it is most likely. This is a painful sign of a person in coping crisis. You should step in.

Exaggerating the Threat: While catastrophizing exaggerates the likelihood of a negative outcome, another symptom of poor coping is exaggerating the size of the threat itself. For example, if a 10% staff cut is looming, the non-coping person may talk of losing the whole department. They may even exaggerate what you’ve said to them, making the situation worse for everyone.

Short Tempers: Someone with a short fuse is never welcome at work, but usually you already know if you have one of these in your work group. When Sally-Smiles-Alot begins losing her cool too, its a coping crisis signal.

Vacillating: In a coping crisis you’ll notice that people have a hard time choosing between alternative courses of action. Group decision making is one of your most critical functions. If your team members begin to seesaw between yes and no for no good reason, a coping crisis could be the culprit.

Fault-finding: Part of the difficulty of dealing with a crisis is our perception that we’ve lost control. Finding fault with others can help those who are not coping well feel better about themselves – temporarily. If finger-pointing has increased, your group’s coping skills may need attention.

Increase in Risky Behaviors: Drinking/driving, drug use, inappropriate use of the internet, staying out late, getting behind on the bills – all of these are risky behaviors that can lead to big trouble. While employees’ personal lives are not in your purview, any indication of an increase in the level of risk your employees are assuming should give you cause for concern.

Putting Too Much on the Line: When employees are coping successfully they don’t bet the farm, they only bet what is reasonable. If you have employees storming out of meetings, issuing ultimatums or threatening to go over your head, it’s a sure sign they aren’t coping well. Talk them down and help them see things from a less dangerous vantage point.

Disengaging/Putting On a False Front: “No, everything is fine. Nothing’s wrong, I promise.” Most of us have heard these assertions from family members or friends and have known instinctively that their words were far from truthful. Whether its our sixth sense, their body language or something even more difficult to explain, sometimes we just know. If your employees’ statements don’t ring true, trust your gut and realize that, though they are putting on a brave front, they may not be coping well at all.

Ruminating Endlessly: (This one might be harder to notice in your employees but you can definitely notice it in yourself.) Ruminating is thinking the same thoughts over and over, letting negative thoughts haunt you. When you ruminate you never actually work through the thoughts, you just think them over and over. If the cause for the coping crisis is known (for instance, a merger or production cutback) you can help your team get through this by simply encouraging them to share their thoughts, with you or with the group. A more private solution is to ask them to journal those troubling thoughts then shred them. The next time the same thoughts come back, journal and shred again. Either way, all of us need to get those troubling thoughts out and stop the ruminating.

Numbing Out: Say your work group has gone from one crisis to another with little time to recover. Know this – your team can only take so much. If your company, industry or community has been buffeted by month after month of “red alert” status, some – maybe most – of your people are not only bummed out, they’re “numbed out.” To get them ready to reengage they’ll need a safe place and a span of time to recuperate. In some situations, the space they need may be time alone, away from other group members. Silence can help us gain perspective.

Leading effectively means giving feedback to your team members when they are having trouble coping. To do your job as a coping coach and mentor, you can’t afford to ignore the signals they may be sending.

Jean Houston Shore works with organizations that want their people to work together better. She can be reached at 770-643-9724, by email at jean@thinkbusiness.com or through her website at www.thinkbusiness.com.

Copyright © 2009, Jean Houston Shore, Business Resource Group. All Rights Reserved Internationally. No portion may be reprinted or used without prior written permission.