How to Handle the Complaining User

Today I spoke in DALLAS, TX at D365 Saturday on user adoption and the 5 motivators.

One of the participants asked the question, “What do you do when the system actually makes it take longer to do my job?”

This required a number of follow up questions on my part to clarify the true issue:

Is it really taking longer or does it just feel like it’s taking longer because it’s new?

Do you understand why additional steps were added to your job (i.e. is it saving someone else down the line time?)

Or

Was the system just poorly designed because they didn’t think through what would actually add value to you doing your job?

The response was, “It helps people down the line but I don’t want my job to take longer.”

He self admitted his primary motivator was status so I suggested he meet his need of status by finding ways to “lean out” his portion of the process and make the recommendations of how his portion of the process could be done better. That way he gets to be “the man”.

Where he had been frustrated because his frame of reference was “these people are idiots”… we created a win win. The system gets better, he gets to “do less” and the company is more efficient.

Make sure you are NOT stifling your users feedback. Frustration comes because people care. They do the job everyday- they have visibility to operational efficiencies the project team or IT Group can’t possibly know.

Does your organization latch on to this type of feedback or just dismiss the complaint as someone being lazy?

He wasn’t being lazy, he had a basic need he needed fulfilled- status. By acknowledging that and finding a way to fill that everyone wins!!

Happy changing!