A Manager's Guide
to Turning
a Complaint Into an Idea
Set a timer
One of the simplest ways to stop the negative thought process is to limit your time with it. My rule of thumb is 15 minutes, any longer than that and you enter the complaint snowball (repeating yourself and grabbing some other complaints along the way).
It usually also helps to get all the emotions surrounding the complaint out. This sets everyone up for clear thinking.
Write it down
While in the 15 minutes of complaining you, as the manager, should write down the productive points brought up. (emotions aside)
I had an employee complain about the tediousness of creating purchase orders but in the same breath make an incredibly valid point. "why can't IT write us a program to upload these?"
Boom! There it was! The productive point!
Within 3 months of this conversation the upload tool was built and in production.
Ask Clarifying Questions
Repeat back what the other person said using only the items you wrote down then drill into clarifying questions that will help you generate a solution for the problem.
This step is also helpful if the original complaint is about a person. When you drill into clarifying questions you may find the person they are complaining about is centered around the responsibilities with a specific task. In this instance creating a RACI is most helpful.
Draw it out
See if you can take the issue and clarifying answers and create an illustration. This will help both of you understand the complaint and where it lives in the ecosystem of a process. This typically spurs additional ideas as well.
Regroup
Plan a future meeting to update your employee on the progress you've made in solving their complaint. You may need to talk to other organizations, coworkers or even HR. Giving your employee a followup time makes them understand their importantance to you while giving you a sense of urgency to do the legwork by the stated date.
When things seem out of your control
In certain instances you may feel at the mercy of the system, politics, etc but it's important to note there is always something you can do. Go around the usual chain of command, make friends with a guy in IT who can do the work incognito for you, create the entire solution yourself and present it to the proper team impromptu.
Remember, a lot of complaints aren't dealt with because they remain just that, complaints. If you come to a team or individual with a solution already well thought out the likelihood of it getting shot down is much smaller.