Top Five Ideas About How to Make Lemonade Out of Lemons

And by "lemons" I mean "complaints"

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One of the things I’ve found myself saying to leaders often this spring is, “Don’t worry about what you hear - worry about what you don’t hear.” And what I mean is: if people are comfortable speaking up with a complaint or a criticism or “negativity” - what it means is that there’s enough resilience and enough trust for people to bring up something that may well be unpopular, against the grain, an inconvenient truth or, at best, a bummer. What I don’t mean is that you should stay up nights harboring dark fears.

Here’s a story via my mentor, organizational psychologist Kenneth Sole, about workplace climate surveys. Workplaces can be stifling, toxic and unpleasant - and rate a “5 out of 5” for excellence on a workplace climate survey. If there’s a culture of staying silent, where the nail that sticks up gets bonked on the head either by the leader or the leader permits other culture-shapers to set the tone and bonk people who don’t tow the usual party line, everyone is going to say, “best workplace ever!” even if their true opinion is different. Even when they are assured the survey is anonymous, in a difficult workplace, people don’t trust that guarantee.

Once the culture shifts, workplace culture survey ratings tend to dip because people feel more comfortable sharing honestly. And no workplace is 5 out of 5 all the time. So next time you leave a faculty meeting thinking, “All they do is whine… I mean, provide me with feedback!” - think about the following:

You’re likely doing something right

It’s not the most fun thing in the world when people are grumpy. And you don’t want an endless parade of unhappiness and grousing that helps no one. But if people feel comfortable bringing up a subject that’s complicated (“I’m worried we aren’t getting the same academically ambitious kids we used to”) or complain (“I’m not sure that professional development workshop was worth our time”) or complain (again) (“Where did that new bus duty schedule for next year come from?”) while you are trying to keep your smile from melting off your face, think: “Hey, at least they aren’t scared of me and can speak their minds.”