Many complaints either fail to take into account the full picture or reflect a closed-minded point of view. They are what I call "chirping," and are generally best ignored. But constructive complaints may lead to important discoveries. #principleoftheday
That what is called destructive complaints which normally hinder the progress of organisation.A constructive complaints will give leverage to the organisation however most bosses disregard them since they think they are being overshadowed.
At Unicomer, I’ve seen the difference between unproductive “chirping” and valuable, constructive feedback. Idle complaints often stem from a narrow or closed-minded perspective and can be detrimental if they distract from meaningful work. However, constructive complaints are gold mines for organizational growth. They provide insights that can lead to significant improvements when addressed properly. It's important to listen actively and evaluate the underlying motivations and context behind the complaints. Encouraging an environment where team members feel safe to voice constructive concerns helps identify areas needing attention and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. One effective approach is to establish a process for collecting and evaluating feedback. By doing so, we ensure that valuable suggestions are not overlooked and that idle complaints are filtered out. Engaging team members in open discussions about the issues they raise and involving them in finding solutions can transform complaints into opportunities for progress. By distinguishing between idle complaints and constructive feedback, we can focus our efforts on what truly matters, driving positive change and enhancing our organization’s effectiveness.
What is seen normally is that- A complaint is a way of life of the complainer.The ears that this complaint goes to and the position of the ears, clouds the complaint differently. It is like two things in one shot. The person making the complaint and the issue itself. Sometimes, the complaint is about the ears clouding the judgement itself. So first of all, relax and chart out how far is this going to go. Like what is the life of the complaint. Some complaints do have a very long shelf life - with zero basis. And I have clearly not understood - the why yet.
Tim Alvner
2w
Failure to take the full picture into account should be taken with a huge grain of salt in many organizations. Unless there's radical transparency, people complaining from their perspective are dismissed as complainers, when the bigger picture could have been communicated. Great sign that something is wrong with the machine if it's diagnosed well. Again, in many organizations the people in the best position to do the diagnosis are also the people that tend to look the other way to protect themselves.
Veda Konduru
2w
Absolutely! I agree, can relate well. Yes, I’ll go with what you call them too. The characteristics of a good, movement-charged complaint will be objectively coded to the best it can be. They will make you pause, reflect, think for further enrichment. And the idle complaints are easy to distinguish in most cases w/ a good observation. They lack substance and come with nagging undertone, trying to tie two most obvious unequal case weights and draw some parallels when not viable too etc., Easy to Id them as such and even easier to ignore them at that point. Thank you,sir! Another rich perspective added to the mental notes! 😊🙏✊
Mishal Dalal
2w
Yes. Never pay attention to negative chatter; it leads nowhere. Constructive criticism, however, leads to progress. You need to filter these things through your experience. Discard complaints that don’t lead to improvement and focus on those that highlight your weaknesses. Deep down, you’ll know the difference. Be mindful of who you listen to. Sometimes friends, colleagues, or even close family members may disguise their negativity as concern, while an acquaintance or even an enemy might accurately point out your weakest link. Use that insight to strategically work on and transform your weakness into a strength. Speaking from personal experience.
Eric A. Budd
2w
"Committed Complaint" is a way of distinguishing idle from useful complaints. A committed complaint is one for which a person is personally committed to pursuing its resolution, making useful requests and enrolling the necessary resources.
Ker Vang
2w
I improved my business by realizing the difference between a pattern and an exception. Patterns are opportunities for you to innovate while exceptions have usually fall into the unreasonable category.
It takes humility, desire for genuine improvement and much wisdom to tell the difference. Especially when the complaints are directed squarely at us. If anything, I would say overshooting on the side of assuming there may be an important discovery leads to more important discoveries rather than unpleasant surprises due to assuming the complaint could safely be ignored.
Director of research and analysis | Strategic advisor and board member of AI start-ups
2wAs a marketing professor once told me: "A complaining customer is a good customer"....Took me a while to grasp that as a 18 year old university student but essentially, a complaining customer tells you what's not working so you have an opportunity to fix it. A customer that is not happy and doesn't complain, will go somewhere else and you will remain unaware that there was a problem to be fixed. So a complaining customer is a good customer....