I used to say that there is nothing wrong with complaining as long as it is followed up with at least three helpful solutions. However, I have since learned there is a better way.
Too often, people either complain about problems without doing anything about them — which is counterproductive because of the negative environment that kind of attitude creates — or they identify solutions to problems that only exist in one person’s mind and fail to fix the root problem — which generally just makes things worse.
So, what is to be done?
If you ask four people to describe a mountain—one from the north, one from the south, one from the east, and one from the west — they will each come up with a slightly different description based on their unique perspectives. Each of them is describing the same mountain, but the way they describe it will be vastly different. If a mountaineer is looking for information to plot a route up the north face and gets feedback only from the observer on the south side, that mountaineer could be in for a brutal and potentially deadly surprise — or they might end up way over-prepared.
It is critical, before anyone attempts to solve a problem, that they first have a clear definition of the problem they are trying to solve and, second, they look at the problem from multiple perspectives and adjust that definition as needed. If I say the problem is that the box is too small, and you say the product is too big, and Tim says the budget is too limited, and Sheila says the machine is too old — those are all very different problems that are all interconnected. If we focus on just one perspective, on just one definition, and fix that problem, we may cause problems for everyone else.
On the other hand, if each of those individuals comes together and talks about their perspective of the problem, the group will arrive at a clearer picture of what the real underlying root problem is and what the solution should be to fix it for everyone.
They may even discover that there isn’t actually a problem at all—or that the problem exists only within a single person’s perspective. If I don’t like that the office fridge is stocked with junk food and I bring the secretary and staff together, but no one else has a problem with it and actually prefers eating food that is fun versus healthy garbage, whose problem is it? It’s mine. From the secretary’s and staff’s perspective, there is no problem at all with the current circumstances, and I simply need to avoid the break room or find the willpower to resist that delicious ice cream and artificially-colored, carbonated sugar water.
The solution to most problems and initiatives begins with getting everyone who is impacted by, or connected to, the perceived problem together and coming up with a unified definition of the problem. Complainers don’t like this because complainers complain to get attention, not to fix problems. When the problem is fixed they lose the spotlight, and have to find something new to complain about.
Leaders may shy away from this approach because there’s subconscious glory in being the brilliant one with all the great solutions, or because if they ask others they might discover that their definition of the problem was wrong. Or they may think that they are too busy to invest in defining problems and getting to root cause, in the same way some of us are too busy to change the oil on our car. Bad idea.
But it’s the right thing to do, and the best thing you can do for your organization. It will result in much happier, better-connected, problem-solving people. It will eliminate counterproductive complaining. And it will save you an enormous amount of time, money, and frustration down the road and eliminate the need to work on far worse problems that will eventually arise from letting unidentified problems fester.
