Labels.

I was ranting to Jonathon about how poorly most organisations deal with complaints.  I took him through my argument.

A good decision is one that advances us towards where we want to be.

It demands that we remain open to information that may orientate us about where we are in relation to where we want to be.

If we are clear about our Widget.

And authentic in our desire to become who we are.

We should eagerly, actively and greedily seize on any information that helps us to orientate ourselves in relation to our objectives.

One of the biggest obstacles that we have to good decision making is the label that we put on information before we have assessed it.

'Complaint' is the best example. 

Call something a 'Complaint' and our ego hears a call to arms. It activates the equivalent of a bank teller security screen. Zip - up go our defences. 

We look for reasons to dismiss the complaint, or at least filter out the information.

It's anonymous.

It's not in writing.

It hasn't come through the right channels.

The complainant said that they don't want us to do anything about it.

We're like children searching to legitimise not eating our greens. 

Then Jonathon says: 'Imagine if a car pulled up alongside you at the traffic lights, sounded their horn to get your attention, and the passenger rolled down their window and pointed at your rear tyre and then drove off when the lights turned green. Would you ignore their signal because they're anonymous? Would you look away because their information was in the form of gestures and not in writing? 

Complaints are just information in an emotional wrapper.