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Be With Complaints Like Rain
If you have a baby, it’s going to cry, and if you lead people, they are going to complain. This isn’t a diss on people.
It’s not that people are whiny, but quite the opposite. Our capacity to deal with tremendous challenges and adversity is incredible, but we also complain.
We complain because we’re not happy.
Because we don’t know what to do.
Because we feel like we don’t have power.
Because we want to be seen and loved and listened to.
The challenge for you as a leader is how to respond to these complaints.
“Yeah yeah I hear you”, without really listening
“OMG I HAVE TO FIX THIS”
“This complaining is SO annoying”
But none of these will get you anywhere.
So instead, be with complaints like rain: let them tell you the weather and show you where new leadership is ready to grow, while also letting it roll off of you.
Rain isn’t personal. And even when it seems that way, complaints aren’t either.
