Can Your Workplace Be Complaint Free?

“God – grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. 

– The Serenity Prayer

No. Your workforce cannot be complaint-free unless you roll out some serious draconian measures to stop it – which I would not suggest. 

But, by encouraging “complaining well” you can dramatically improve the culture of your workplace. This will make your office a happier place to work, which will surround you with happier people and attract better team members. This is a very good thing! 

How can you encourage “complaining well”? Your culture is defined by your core values. Your core values can define the culture you have today and want to keep and the culture you aspire to have. You can create a complaining well core value to focus your team on improving this aspect of your workplace. 

One of the best examples I have seen of this is at Dave Ramsey’s company, Ramsey Solutions. One of their core values is “No Gossip.” They define gossip as “discussing anything negative with someone who can’t help solve the problem.”

Last week we defined complaining as “stating anything negative, including curse words, without stating what steps you will take to fix the problem.” This sounds a lot like Dave’s definition of gossip. 

Stopping complaining in your workplace will not only improve your culture it will improve the lives of everyone that interacts with your company. Complaining is learned helplessness and people who complain all the time can be pretty miserable. By implementing a no complaining value, you are improving your workplace while improving the mindset of everyone who works with you. 

When we cannot complain we are forced to become solutions-oriented. If we don’t like a situation, we look for solutions because just complaining about it is not an option. When we cannot come up with a solution, we take the problem to others to seek help finding a solution. When we focus on solutions we become happier and healthier. 

Ramsey states that gossip (as they define it) is unfair to everyone involved. It is unfair to the gossipers because they must toil in a problem situation with no hope of resolution (learned helplessness). It is unfair to others who hear the gossip because it undermines passion for their work, confidence in their leadership, and belief in the vision. It is also unfair because you aren’t allowed to address a problem within your business. 

At Ramsey’s shop, you don’t complain about how long it takes the technology department to fix your problem to the sales team. You talk to your leader because they can do something about it. If you have a problem with your boss, you speak to another leader about the problem. 

A policy like this is a big cultural shift for most organizations. It requires transparency and the willingness of all leaders to listen to their people and work with them to find solutions. The core value must be integrated into how you hire, fire, and promote. 

At Ramsey Solutions, employees are given one warning when caught gossiping and are fired the next time it happens. They really have fired people for gossiping. That sets the standard and shows everyone how important leadership feels this value is. 

“In our organization, negatives go up and positives come down.” – Dave Ramsey

Zappos is another example of a great company culture. It is a place where people love to work. Their first CEO had a practice of taking questions from throughout the organization and responding to each one of them through a monthly “ask anything” newsletter. 

Improving your company culture is never easy, but it is worth it. A happier, healthier workplace will attract the employees you need to grow and serve your customers well.

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