The one thing leaders have a hard time with is when people come to them with complaints, and no solutions. How do you speak up?
Some Back Story
I, like most people starting out, feel into the complaints department. Not that I took the complaints from people necessarily, but I complained more than my fair share.
Lets face it it’s easy to do, and feel goods for a short time. Am I right? Of course I am. Does it get you what you want? For a short bit of relief maybe, but an enduring sense of accomplishment? No.
Going to your leader whoever that maybe with complaints always seemed like a good idea when I first started out, and they a lot of the time asked “well what would you do,” or “how would you handle that.” Have you tried actually everything? No, of course not; I tried to take the easier route by complaining and trying to off load the issue on to someone else who I thought better equipped to deal with it.
I don’t recall a time in my young life when I took an issue to a manager, or someone higher up than me, and brought a solution. As I got older, and wiser I brought issues, and I tried to bring solutions, or at the very least asked an opinion of the issue to get some perspective.
How Does Someone Speak Up the Right Way?
Speaking up the right way has to deal with a few different things. You have to be willing to see things from other perspectives, and bring possible solutions to the table. If you aren’t able, or willing to do at least one than you aren’t speaking up properly, and need to read on to make sure you do from here on in.
So what to do when you’re faced with an issue. You can do what everyone else will probably do, and either gossip and/or complain, or better yet BOTH! Or yo u can bring solutions to the problem, and work with someone to get them resolved. In other words you can Be The Solution!
So what is it that's bugging you? What can you do to shed light on the issue? Do you know some possible solutions? Does the issue require some extra help? These are a few questions to ask yourself as you try to find possible solutions to the issue, and getting any help that maybe required. One of the bigger questions to ask yourself is; am I equipped to tackle this issue? Don't fret is the answer is no it means you are self-aware enough to realize this may have to go beyond you, and to someone with more experience; however it can still be used as a learning experience for yourself in case another similar situation arises.
Something I've learned over the years with speaking up the right way it also pertains to speaking about others in a proper way. What I mean by this is; don't run them down, and belittle whatever their doing, and don't make accusations especially ones you can't back up. So what is that we are supposed to say instead? Good question! The answer is talk in caring and concerned manor. Speak of hope for a fix, and that the other party is trying to, and doing their best.
A great example of this is when I was working in the mobile device field, and we had a major competitor move out west. They had tons of billing issues, and the dealer stores couldn't do much to help people out except call and hopefully get the issue corrected. They tried their best constantly to help their clients, and the major company wasn't much help, and stood in the way a lot of the time from what I understood. People used to come in constantly talking trash about the store, and we as a store kept calm, and talked about how our major company had a lot of the same issues moving out east the year before. We easily could've joined the crowd, and ran the competition down; however we didn't we kept a hopefully view for them, and let people know they are frustrated and that the other store is trying hard to make things right for them. We talked up the other store, and didn't bash them as we knew they were working their damnedest to get the issues fixed, and that the carrier was trying to get it done
as well.
So when faced with a problem instead of running the other party into the ground talk them up a little, and understand they are doing their best, and that the situation isn't unsolvable.
It's been a pleasure writing this for you as always. If you enjoy reading this give it some love with a like, and a share. Every little bit helps.
Ride Hard, and Live Long
Sincerely,
Rob Hicks
Comments