A Manager’s Secret for Turning Employee Complaints into Golden Opportunities

Out of the roughly 16 million managers in the USA, I’d be willing to bet that all of them, at one point or another, field employee complaints.

Whether employees are complaining about processes and procedures or the behavior of fellow team members, these grievances cause enormous amounts of stress, dissension in the ranks, and detract from productivity and performance.

The problem is most managers have either had no training on how to deal with employee complaints, or they have been led astray by conventional, mainstream strategies that are fundamentally amiss.

Here’s what happens most of the time:

Many managers acknowledge the complaint and promise to investigate the matter. That never happens, in most cases, because the manager's plate is already full. As a result of the inaction, trust and respect are eroded.

Other managers assume control of the complaint. Regarding process or procedural issues, they spend countless hours developing a solution. This adds to the existing pile on the manager’s desk and already high level of stress. When it comes to colleague complaints and employee spats, many managers intervene and become an arbitrator or referee. While this may temporarily resolve employee conflict, the fight card grows. In the end, the manager finds him or herself officiating more no holds barred cage matches than a WWE referee.  

I call this style “Fire & Rescue Management.” If the placards on your manager’s doors read Fire & Rescue - Squad 51, we can remove them, eliminate a ton of stress, and significantly accelerate productivity and performance with my proprietary method of feedback called (RFDO) Reverse Feedback Directed Outcome.

Before we get to the examples, I want to unpack conventional feedback. Traditional methods are typically one-dimensional and negative based.

For instance, the way you are reading this article is all wrong. Moving forward, I would like you to correct that. Can you do that for me? I’ll bet that didn’t make you feel all warm, fuzzy, and productive, did it? This approach is counterproductive and counterintuitive to coaching methodology.

Now let’s use the RFDO method of feedback. If you could turn back the pages, what would you change about the way you are reading this article? What could you do to improve your retention and experience? What if you add this to it? I think that is a great strategy! Let’s put that into play. Awesome! This method is two-dimensional, involves the employee, and makes them part of the solution.

Now, let’s use my proprietary method to turn employee complaints into solutions and golden opportunities, which accelerate productivity and performance.

Example #1: One day as I was walking the floor, Barry approached me and said, “You know, process X is completely broken. It causes breakdowns in communication, kills production, and I believe is negatively impacting sales.

Here’s how I handled the complaint using the RFDO method of feedback: I replied to Barry, “I see your points Barry. That is obviously something we should correct. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. What is your solution for that problem? How can we improve the process and make your job easier?” Barry replies, “I don’t have one, and I’m not sure.” I said, “Why don’t you spend the next two weeks reviewing the process and finding a solution, then we can meet the following Monday. Does that give you enough time?” Barry replies, “Yes that should be fine.” I said, “Great! Thanks again for bringing the issue to my attention. Way to be engaged and contribute to the team. Awesome job!”

Example #2: One day, Tina approached me with a complaint about one of her team members, Michelle. According to Tina, Michelle was not sharing the responsibility of closing the juice bar yet was sharing 50% of the tips. I asked Tina, “What’s your solution to the problem?” She said, “Well, I was hoping you could talk with her.” I said, “I could but that won’t improve your relationship with Michelle. What could you do to get Michelle to work together as a team?” Tina replied, “I’m not sure.” I said, “In most cases like this a lack of communication creates a misunderstanding. What if you take the first step and throw Michelle a bone? Do you think that would encourage her to work with you rather than against you?” Tina replied, “I don’t know. Maybe it would. But how would I go about that?” I replied, “When it’s time to close the juice bar tonight, approach Michelle and say, “Great night with sales. You probably have a lot of paperwork to wrap up, so I’ll take care of the juice bar tonight.” The following evening wait for Michelle to take the initiative to close the bar. If she does not, then follow up with, “Hey Michelle, I have to finish imputing these sales and run the reports, so can you close the bar tonight? If so, I can close the bar tomorrow and Friday? Try that and report back to me on Monday.” In the end, that resolved the matter. Turns out, Michelle thought Tina was looking to take advantage of her, and Tina felt Michelle was shirking responsibility. And it was all due to a lack of communication. 

So, there you have it – a direct, powerful, and effective way to deal with employee complaints.

But here’s the real kicker; what I demonstrated above just scratches the surface of the potential of RFDO feedback.

If your managers were reskilled and trained to use this powerful method, not only would conflict disappear but productivity and performance would increase by 20%, 30% or more!

To learn more, check out my video on RFDO feedback below:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6742198714959478785/

Message me to learn more about scheduling a Manager/Team Diagnostic.

 Regards,

David Roppo

Coach & Consultant

#management #managertraining #teambuilding #employeeengagement