Episode 16 - Coordinating with Precision: How to Handle Complaints Like an Expert

“Complaints are great news. I would much prefer complaints over apathy. Apathy is like they don’t even care! There’s nothing to work with there.” – Kari Zeller

Welcome to Leadership Impact, the podcast for modern executives who are reinventing leadership within their organizations. Hosted by executive leadership coach and CEO of TGN Consulting, Kari Zeller (FKA Granger), and Sound Financial Group CEO, Paul Adams, this podcast aims to address the topics of performance and leadership through real life examples. This is Episode 3 of our four-part series on coordinating with precision.

In this episode, Kari and Paul provide best practices on how to navigate complaints within an organization. Paul provides an example of a frustrated executive who was expressing major complaints without providing solutions to those complaints. Kari believes that behind every complaint there is a fundamental care that needs to be addressed. Whenever a complaint arises, Kari looks in two areas: standard and care. She talks about the importance of having a shared standard for success and satisfaction. Finally, Kari and Paul highlight the value of questioning and collaborating to create solutions to complaints.

What We Covered:

00:27 – Introducing today’s topic: How to Navigate the World of Unreliability

01:10 – An observation Paul has made about complaints

03:55 – Kari discusses the importance of having a shared standard for satisfaction

08:04 – The value of committed complaints

09:02 – The fundamental care that exists behind every complaint

11:34 – Questions that can be asked to understand the reason behind a complaint

14:01 – How Paul reacts to complaints

15:04 – The importance of collaborating to create solutions to complaints

16:59 – Paul challenges the audience to be mindful of the underlying fundamental care in complaints that are brought up within conversations

18:13 – Kari reveals the two questions she plans on using the next time she hears a complaint

Quotes:

“This is a fundamental care coming at me disguised as a complaint.” – Kari Zeller 

“The work of implementation, of taking ideas into action, is a skillset that requires a different mindset from creation, and requires you to pay attention to different things.” – Kari Zeller 

“Complaints are great news. I would much prefer complaints over apathy. Apathy is like they don’t even care! There’s nothing to work with there.” – Kari Zeller 

“If we can elevate our sensitivity to when we’re making promises and when others are, we can increase the reliability of those promises.” – Kari Zeller 

“When you’re making a complaint, are you making that complaint in a way that speaks to the standards that you’re holding for the sake of the organization?” – Paul Adams 

LEADERSHIP IMPACT PODCAST

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Links:

• Kari’s Website

• Paul’s Website

• Kari’s Online Courses about Leadership Performance, Accountability, and Trust

• Paul’s Other Podcast

  
  

Acknowledgements: Our work is mosaic art. We read, study, and practice many philosophies, methodologies, and modalities of human performance, to ensure that our approach best serves our clients. We would like to acknowledge all of the thought leaders and organizations, whose ground-breaking work has influenced the TGN Consulting approach – especially Fernando Flores, Jim Selman, Michael C. Jensen, Julio Olalla, Pluralistic Networks,The Newfield Network, and the Strozzi Institute.

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