When a Complaint is a Gift

It’s really hard and really important to see the problems within your own organization. Sometimes you need someone from outside your company to shine a light on something that you need to improve.

One of our clients gave us the gift of bringing an issue we had in our organization to our attention. We had a severe cultural misalignment with one of our staff, and our client’s Director of IT, Tony Aramouni, was kind enough to bring it me. This can be a difficult thing to do.

Turns out, what Tony saw was a symptom of a larger problem. When Tony brought it to me, we were able to see it and address the issue. We became a better organization because of it. Tony’s complaint was a gift.

We learn from our clients’ complaints, and complaints are not easy for anyone. Usually if someone has a complaint, they will just stop using our service. But Tony is like us; he knows the importance of developing a strong relationship with similar companies. We’re glad Tony showed us where we were falling short so we could work to become better.

Here’s a short conversation I recently had with Tony about the work we’ve done with his team at TICO.