Handling complaints - training for managers and senior people

Behind every complaint are strong feelings of anxiety, frustration, anger or disappointment.  If you depend on someone for goods, services or support and they let you down, you are bound to feel bad about it.  A mistake that many people make in handling complaints is that they ignore the emotion and try to get straight down to solving the problem.  Unfortunately, even though well intended, this approach often makes matters worse.  The complainer becomes even more tense, argumentative and unreasonable.

Receiving a complaint or criticism is an unpleasant experience, especially when it’s put over aggressively.  It makes you feel attacked and, produces in you strong feelings such as anger and fear.  It is a natural and very strong impulse to be defensive when you feel under attack, but when you’re handling a complaint a defensive response not only winds the complainer up, it also shows you in an unfavourable light.

The "Skills with People" course coaches you in a method of handling complaints and hostility that calms people down and makes it much more likely you’ll win their co-operation.  The method is based on listening with empathy.  Listening with empathy has great power to calm people down and make them willing to listen to reason.  That isn’t easy under pressure, and that is why you get plenty of practice at it on the Skills with People course.

See also the Skills with People course contents