“We criticize people for not giving us what we ourselves are afraid to ask for.”
 – Marshall Rosenberg, PhD

In this crazy upside-down world, overwhelm seems to be the norm for most of the workforce, and it becomes very easy to get stuck in a complaint about what is going on around us.

Why it matters?
It is important to recognize that complaining is a pattern that undermines teams. It keeps you focused on the past and not building or exploring possibilities for the future.

Leadership Insights
Managers and leaders can become empowered by interrupting and redirecting complaints into powerful, actionable requests. If you want to achieve awesome results, leaders need to start looking for the hidden requests behind these complaints.

Leadership Strategy
Redirect the complaint by…

1. Listening and sympathizing but do not get sucked into the complaint.
2. Ask some follow-up questions to get into action and out of a “victim” mindset like:

• Do you have any thoughts on how we correct this?
• What would you suggest we do next?
• What support do you need to address this?

Awesome Read
How to Complain While Still Being Professional offers some action steps that can support you in taking the lead and getting out of the complaint conversation and moving forward to results.

Have an awesome month leaders!