Approaching adversity on the job with the willingness to listen, understand, and offer assistance yields more positive results than demonstrating a primary intention to punish and enforce rules. Although team members are frequently vocal in requests for organizational attention to their needs, you must maintain a rational point of view. Developing the potential of team members and increasing productivity is more important than winning a verbal battle and proving the strength of your own authority.

The first step in dealing with a complaint is to discover whether you are dealing with a personal issue that is actually the team member’s responsibility or with a situation more appropriate for management to address. Although they may be unpleasant to face, openly and directly expressed complaints are the easiest of all to handle. All too often, complaints are hidden from view and are expressed as symptoms that must be analyzed and interpreted.

If you determine that you are dealing with a minor issue that affects only one person, all that may be needed is one or two sessions in which you listen and help the person develop a solution.

If you determine that the complaint presented is not rooted in a personal problem of the team member, you know that you are possibly dealing with an organizational concern.