Caution and Warning Lights: Frustration Is a Signal

By Ben Urmston · September 30, 2025

Not long ago, a team member came into my office visibly frustrated.

As someone who loves aviation, it felt like a cockpit warning light had just blinked on. The issue? Our Search and Rescue (SAR) gear hadn’t been put back properly. On the surface, it was small. But underneath, it carried the weight of repeated breakdowns, unclear expectations, and a lot of unsaid frustration.

We talked. He left. The moment passed. But something lingered.

As the Field Training Supervisor at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, I help train scientists and support staff to survive in one of the harshest environments on the planet. Our team also serves as the station’s primary SAR unit. Despite the department’s long history, high turnover has left us with gaps—systems that rely on oral history, habits, or whoever’s paying attention that day. I stepped into the role hoping to bring more consistency and clarity.

Alone in my office after that conversation, I realized I wasn’t just responding to his frustration. I was caught in my own. And I had to ask:

What is frustration trying to tell us?

Two Kinds of Frustration

In my experience, frustration usually points to one of two things:

• Personal Frustration – “Why did they do that?!”

• Systemic Frustration – “Why can’t we get this right?!”

In both cases, the root is often the same: unspoken expectations or unclear systems.

This reminds me of the Waterline Model: what’s above the surface is behavior, what someone says or does. What’s beneath are the assumptions, expectations, and patterns that actually drive our actions. Frustration is often the first clue that something under the surface needs attention.

When it’s personal, it might be a standard or belief that hasn’t been made visible.

When it’s systemic, it’s often a missing structure or unclear process the team has been quietly working around.

Frustration as Feedback

Rather than dismiss the frustration or spiral into blame, I circled back. I told my teammate:

“If something’s frustrating you, I want to hear about it. But bring a possible solution too. I can’t fix what I can’t see, and I’d rather improve it with you than alone.”

Together, we made a small shift: no one touches personal gear until the shared SAR gear is properly put away. It’s not a huge change. But it’s one of those subtle structures—like a checklist—that takes a little pressure off memory and emotion. It gives clarity to the team and accountability to the moment.

Is it perfect? No. But it’s movement with intention. And like flying, even small course corrections can change your landing point.

What to Do With Frustration

At its core, frustration is a signal. Not something to suppress, but something to interpret.

The questions are:

What’s it pointing to? And how can we use our emotions as a source of information and intelligence?

Here are a few reflection questions I now use, both for myself and with the teams I work with:

• Is there a conversation I need to have?

• Is there a system that needs to be clarified or improved?

• Is this about values misalignment, or just unclear roles and responsibilities?

• What part of this is about me? (My expectations, my DiSC style, my stress

  response?)

Frustration, when noticed and worked with, builds awareness. And awareness is the first step toward leadership—whether it’s self-leadership or leading a team.

Final Thought

Frustration isn’t just noise. It’s a signal. A warning light. And like any signal, it asks for a response. Ignore it, and small problems tend to grow. Pay attention, and you might just spot the opportunity to make things better.

In high-stakes environments, whether in Antarctica, a school, a boardroom, or a nonprofit team, those little moments matter. The checklist. The shared understanding. The quick course correction. They build trust. They build culture. And they build leaders.

---

Ben Urmston is a Field Training Supervisor at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. He writes about leadership in extreme environments and the small signals that guide big decisions.