No business wants to receive a serious complaint. It’s easy to assume that it’s a sign of a systemic problem, issues in a team, a bad egg or worse still, a bad culture.
One of the first questions businesses will ask is, “What does this problem say about our business?”
Our clients focus on the most important question:
What will our response say about our business?
Your stakeholders – your people, customers, shareholders – don’t expect zero problems. They do expect accountability and a growth mindset.
Think about it this way:
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- Now you know – before the complaint, you didn’t know there was a problem. When you don’t know, your risk is unlimited. It’s always better to know.
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- It’s a bridge – the incident-handling process creates a path from where you were to where you want to be. Whatever the issue, it was negatively impacting your business’ performance. Taking the right action means improved performance is guaranteed.
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- Reinforce and reconnect – it’s a valuable opportunity to show your stakeholders that you’ve got this. Show them they can trust you to understand what’s happened and make the right decisions.
Our aim should always be minimising the frequency and seriousness of workplace problems. These ideals shape a happier workforce and peak performance over the long term. But no complaints speaks to a bigger issue – a team who is uncomfortable speaking up or suggesting a better approach. No feedback stunts your ability to grow and adapt.
Changing your mindset when it comes to tackling problems, even serious ones, is the most positive shift you can bring to your organisation. You earn stakeholder trust and create a resilient business ready for the challenges the future holds.
Our advice – make every aspect of your complaint and incident-handling systems the best out there. Clear, effective processes and training minimise risk and disruption and take your focus from what now, to what next.
Businesses that are set up to see the opportunity as the result of complaints or incidents thrive.