What’s a complaint, if not a cry for help

A signal that communicates a wish or hope

Complaints can be useful to bosses

Who are interested in preventing future losses

Of people, processes, time, and harmony

What’s a complaint, if not an idea cloaked

A bit of creativity waiting to be evoked

Complaints can become positive

For they mean communication is active

And it takes a conversation to change the world.

10 Ways to Handle Complaints - For Managers
Do you struggle to respond to complaints? Complaints are not all treated equally. Most managers welcome and can deal with a complaint that is valid and objectively expressed. Complaints that seem trite, invalid, or resemble whining are more difficult to handle.

Don’t be defensive
When dealing with complaints, we are often our own worst enemies! Taking complaints personally makes it more difficult to resolve the matter and move on. Managers who can focus on the information and the resolution without getting defensive will find complaints less disruptive and cumbersome.

Understand the facts
The person is complaining for a reason. Before jumping to any conclusions, learn the facts of the situation. Look at the issue from all sides and ask the person to explain his or her view.

Listen fully
When a person complains, he or she wants to feel as though you have listened and understand. Ask clarifying questions to ensure you understand the situation and to show you are listening. Empathize when appropriate and apologize for mistakes. Listen for what the person wants to happen next, because it is often reasonable and easy to accommodate requests.

Acknowledge the person’s feelings
You do not have to agree with the person to recognize how they are feeling. Saying things like, “I can see you are frustrated,” or “I understand this ordeal has been annoying to you,” will go a long way toward diffusing the complainer’s anger.

Try to solve the problem or offer alternatives
The quickest way to take care of complaints is to solve the issue. This may seem like common sense, but many managers allow complaints to linger and go unresolved. If a solution is not possible, it is important to offer an alternative to resolve the complaint.

Thank people for constructive complaints
Receiving complaints can be a good thing because it signals that communication lines are open. Constructive complaints can help managers identify problems and address barriers. Listening to and thanking others for sharing complaints will strengthen relationships.

Involve the right people
You may not be the best person to resolve a complaint and will want to bring in others to address the concern. This does not mean that you can wash your hands of the complaint! As the “complaint receiver” you are responsible for ensuring the person gets a response.

Provide the facts
Team members are more likely to gripe and groan about a decision they do not understand. You can resolve many complaints by clarifying team members’ questions and concerns. Managers who take the time to explain decisions upfront prevent many complaints from occurring.

Run and hide
Just kidding! Don’t try this at work or home.

Ask for complaints
Managers who ask for complaints will find that team members express their concerns more objectively and openly. Inviting complaints reduces the likelihood the person will be upset and emotional. It is a way to nip problems in the bud and solve problems before they are able to fester and grow. Try setting aside the last 15 minutes of each staff meeting to discuss complaints.

Prevent complaints
Active MBWA and open communication can go a long way toward preventing team member and peer complaints. Often, a complaint is really a second or third attempt to share and be heard. Managers should recognize and respect diverse points of view and areas of disagreement.

Tabby cat terror for black bear

See larger photo – AP Photo by Suzanne Giovanetti

Clawless kitty chases bear up tree – read more on the story and see more photos.

In, How to get traffic for your blog, Seth Godin writes: “Don’t write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.” Good advice, in general. Of course he follows that up with: Write about your kids – a sentence later. You have to learn the rules and then learn when (and how) to break them.

Curious Cat Travels: Bear Warning sign (I will have to see about bring Jack on my hiking trips) – Bear at Yellowstone – Big Cats in Kenya

What will things look like in a year if everything goes as planned?
What are the consequences of not changing?
Why is this change important?
What do you already know about this approach?
How does this change affect the other aspects of the organization?
What other assumptions could also be valid?
What generalizations have you made?
Why is this situation occurring?
What are the pros and cons of your approach?
How is this similar to or different from the way you have approached this in the past?
Are you seeing the goal as would your peers, employees, customers and managers?
What would you do if time was not an issue?
What if you cleared your calendar today?
What if you are talking to the wrong people?
What if you partnered with someone? Who would he or she be?
What if you need to create a support structure, how might you do this?
What if you asked for exactly what you want?
What if you are barking up the wrong tree?
What if the answer is right in front of you?
What can you do to expand your thinking?

Bonus: What would your alter-ego do if she had no fears or apprehensions?

Great coaching is more about questions than answers (that would be advice).

Leadership is an art, not a science. It depends mostly on sensitivity
to circumstances, courage to face reality and a continual willingness
to do whatever it takes to bring others along.

Ah, yes, sensitivity to conditions – one of the elements of chaos and certainly a good thing to think about when discussing leadership. How do we interview for the ability to be sensitive to circumstances? There’s a nice challenge. This post draws heavily on the notion of complex systems (which human systems are) and chaos theory and it is a good read. Check it out.

Today’s the day!  Can’t say much till Noon Pacific Standard Time–but it is worth the wait.

Noon today PST, the doors open – on an offer that has the potential to save you thousands of dollars, increase your sales exponentially, and perhaps best of all give you peace of mind in the midst of a downward spiraling economy, massive budget cuts and increased sales quotas!

Watch the countdown to noon here.

Best,

Paul McCord

At noon PST run, don’t walk to here

BetterProcess Podcast and Blog

I found a new source of podcasts focused on manufacturing, charting, use of data and the like. Yesterday I wrote about the potential for webinars and last week I wrote about the value of podcasts to the transfer of management improvement knowledge. The biggest problem right now is finding management improvement podcasts so I am glad to find another source of podcasts on management improvement topics.

Topics of the podcasts include: Pareto charting, P-charting, Six Sigma (Measurement System Analysis) and manufacturing news.

All the podcasts end with a musical selection. This new technology allows individuals to create what they want. So we get a much more personal creations than were common in the past. I can’t imagine many video training sessions each ending in a musical selection. It also is made possible by thinking like that of the creative commons license (that allowing more use of your content may actual be wiser, in some cases, than prohibiting any use of content that you own).

The most recent podcast is part 2 of 2 (and the 12th podcast overall): Broken link an interview with Andy Sleeper a Master Black Belt discussing Measurement System Analysis.

Would you like to make the impossible possible? Chat with Bill Strickland

During this 20 minute podcast, I chat with Bill Strickland, President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation and author of Make the Impossible Possible. This is one of those podcasts that I hope you share with your friends and coworkers. Bill has an amazing "vibe" and he is a role model for manifesting vision. I love his book, Making the Impossible Possible – it is a captivating read and full of gripping details that will surely inspire you and get your brain cells and heart halves buzzing.

You can listen to my podcast with the Bill Strickland by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here: MP3 Download

And just a reminder…..

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

And fellow blogger, coach, twittering pal Rosa Say responded with a link to this amazing article all about how managers can create energy at work and why they ought to called, 3 Ways Managers Create Energetic Workplaces. I love this article, please check it out and then give her suggestions a try. Here is a snippet:

Your greatest resource in any workplace is NOT time (or
financing), it IS the energy required to make the time and other
resources you have available count for something worthwhile and
meaningful.

I'm afraid I have a somewhat dim view of management. What I see, as a worker, is people who read the management book-of-the-month and then make changes accordingly without passing any of it through the thought process. And woe to the manager who questions.

I do like my manager as a person and I liked the manager before her. They're smart and well-meaning. But they're trapped in the yes-person role, confined to speaking in acronyms and doing their best to act as if what they are doing is rational and truly makes sense for the customers.

I could go on, but there's no need. It's no wonder that so many younger people look at the hollow managers of today and resist falling into the life of endless meetings and of trying to justify arbitrary decisions from above.

I know Mike is right that some managers just don't get it and they jerk their teams around with flavor of the month initiatives. For the managers out there who, admittedly, are too enamored by trends and conference speaker books, check out what Mike is saying here. Management is so important because it affects how people view their jobs.

And I know that we will always have a broad range of managers – just like everything in life, including employees – with some being extraordinary and some having minimal positive impact. Mike, thanks for the comment, and I hope that your observations generate some good discussions AND reflection.

As a book author, I would also like to say that I know it is tough not to get sucked into the latest model, metaphor, or method displayed on the end cap of your local Barnes and Noble. The publishing system is designed for renewal (except the classics, which endure) since books stay on shelves no more than six weeks. The approach I recommend is to create your model and philosophy for management and find learning resources that reinforce and deepen your ONE message and approach. This will be more effective than relying on the book's structure to become your schema for management or success.

Service can be a great differentiator, if you can do it well. Since, so often, service is poor in so many areas those that provide good service can set themselves apart. It is usually difficult for competitors to copy exceptional service.

Related posts:

• Customer Service is Important
• Innovation and Customer Focus
• Deming’s Ideas at Markey’s Audio Visual
• Superior Customer Experiences