Could the rising number of HR complaints be tied to a lack of leadership training?
How Do You Reduce HR Complaints Within Your Plant?
HR professionals are noticing more complaints. Usually those complaints are tied to the behaviors of the leaders that they have in the organization.
The story we tell ourselves is that “If everyone could just get along, we would have fewer HR complaints.”
This is a piece of fiction. The reason we say that is because it is not just people getting along. It is the interactions that are happening between leaders and the team members in your organization.
Some supervisors and leaders pick up best habits by working through other leaders that they have had in their career. Most of the time, the complaints that are caused in the organization revolve around a few key interactions that happen between supervisors and their team members.
Most of the time, the complaints that are caused in the organization revolve around a few key interactions that happen between supervisors and their team members. Share on X
Issues Are Escalated, Now What?
One company called us almost in desperation looking for leadership training because their HR team and operations leadership were continuously having issues come up and get escalated.
The main problem was that they were inundated with complaints regarding how their supervisors were dealing with issues, conflicts, and complaints. It became a big mess!
By working with our Front Line Leadership program, we were able to help their team members build some of the skill sets. As a result, the number of HR complaints has decreased substantially.
How Can You Reduce the HR Complaints in Your Plant?
Tip #1: Respectful Communication. Reflecting On “How” You and Your People Are Saying Things Is Important.
If you do have a hierarchy, you should still communicate in a way that is respectful. That means when making requests, make sure you are:
- Explaining why
- Providing some of the understanding
- Treating others as a human being instead of as a number
Tip #2: Use A Coach Approach.
There are different leadership styles and approaches. Some people still use the old school approach of “autocratic leadership” or “driver/director” type of leadership.
There are those that really love that sort of “command and control” structure. You should ask yourself, do you prefer to be continuously told what to do or do you prefer someone who uses more of a coach approach?
That means:
- Explains expectations
- Asks for input
- Builds on successes and positives
You can imagine that if somebody did that (if they used a coach approach) the number of HR complaints would be reduced substantially.
Tip #3: Manage Conflict.
Conflicts are inevitable and they are not always bad, but how they get dealt with can either contribute to success or contribute to failure.
Helping leaders understand how to view conflict from a curiosity or a solution standpoint can be really effective. It promotes asking good questions of team members when they are in conflict with each other, patience, and prevention of labeling people as “problem employees” when they happen to be in a conflict situation.
When leaders become more capable at managing conflict, often the number of HR complaints will drop off quite a bit.
Conflicts are inevitable and they are not always bad, but how they get dealt with can either contribute to success or contribute to failure. Share on X
Training to Manage Conflict
We have both a live training session and a pre-recorded content on managing and respectful conflict resolution for both your leaders and team members.
Remember that the three big areas to help reduce HR complaints in your plant and promote respectful communication are:
- The manner of how you say things
- Presenting issues in a way that is professional and cordial by using a “coach” approach instead of an autocratic approach
- Manage conflict
Once you do those things, there are other adjacent leadership skills and techniques that are needed for success. That is where our Front Line Leadership training comes in!
Whether we can deliver it from our state-of-the-art virtual training studio or if would prefer to have us in-house to work directly with your team on site – we can do both! You can review the course curriculum, topics, and start a conversation with on our website at uniquedevelopment.com.
You can also connect with us on one of the many social channels that we are very active in.
No matter how you reach out and work with us, we want to be your partners in frontline leadership success.
