The 'Red/Green' Dashboard is failing to Visualize Real Risk

For many years, we have trusted the Red, Amber, and Green (RAG) dots to narrate the story of banking projects which is usually a standard language of the boardroom. But these are more often not a perfect system of representing the true signal.

Ever heard of the "Watermelon Effect “?

It is a term used when things look greener outside and as you dig an inch deep there it is all Red .. and it is not good for orgnisations

From outside the narrative looks in acceptable range but inside, employee sentiment is tanking brand is eroding & teh customers are confused.

Why it is not good? By the time the dashboard finally flips to Red, the damage is already done.

At A1 Slides, we spend thousands of hours reviewing enterprise decks for Fortune 500 clients including many from BSFI. We are seeing a change.

The smartest leaders are now become skeptical for these standalone traffic light. They feel the limited review time they have, is now not used properly and they require to go deeper to peel of these surface level remark.

Let’s learn why the old dashboard is failing your risk committee, and what should replace it.

The Problem: Status vs. Trajectory

Have you noticed banking reforms not performing despite "Green" status reports?

It is what you are measuring. A RAG status usually answers a logistical question: "Did we hit the Tuesday deadline?" without answering the strategic question: "Is this reform actually working?"

I recently saw this happening with a major financial client. Their board deck was 63 slides deep. It was packed with spreadsheets and green/red cells. Technically, it was accurate. But during the 30-minute executive review, it failed drastically.

The "Green" status masked a 12% drop in branch adoption. The data was there, buried in row 40 of an excel sheet. The summary slide said "Success." The reality was a crisis building up.

The Fix: Insight-First Reporting

We worked with that client to strip it down. We compressed those 63 slides into a 25-slide decision asset.

It was not deleting a few slides;but bring facts in front of executive which matter most. This is only possible with Insight-First Design approach. You see the goal isn't to report data; it's to help make a decision.

This is time to audit your own board deck, I recommend you to look for these three things. If you don't see them, you are looking at a Watermelon.

1. Don’t accept "Orphan" Dot

Never let a status dot stand alone. A Green dot means nothing without a trend line. There may be many case scenarios, a Green but trending down or Green but reliant on a risky vendor

Source : A1 Slides “The Enterprise Presentation Outlook 2025” report

2. Sentiment is Data

In banking, the biggest risk isn't the balance sheet; it's the people. Yes, if your staff is ready to strike, your project is Red, no matter what the financial spreadsheet says.

When we work with clients we encourage clients to visualize "soft" data—employee engagement, customer trust scores—right next to the "hard" financial milestones. You see a report is only true when it gives you 360 degree view not just a few numbers marked as good or bed

3. The "Answer-First" Headline

This is what is very popular in consultancies. And with this example you see what it means titles like "Q3 Risk Update” is just a label Vs"Operational Risk is Stable, but Reputational Risk has Spiked due to Union Activity."

The Bottom Line

Remember a dashboard exists for one reason: to buy you time to step in on time

If your slides are just confirming what happened last month, they are useless. As a decision maker you need leading indicators. You need to see the "Red" while the project still looks "Green" on the surface.

In our experience across 60+ enterprise project presentations, we notice the companies that master this—who value clarity over "data dumping"—are the ones who move faster. Beware of Watermelon & don't let a green dot hide a red reality.