Putting people before process

There are clearly problems with how this question is framed and the different ways that organisations collect data, but it sounds a loud alarm bell that something’s wrong and needs to change.

Doing ourselves justice

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures result didn’t come as a complete surprise. Even the best organisations sometimes send responses that fail to resolve people’s complaints or properly take into account the emotional, psychological and reputational aspects of service failures. Housing is a complex business and mistakes will happen, but too often providers just don’t do themselves justice in how they behave when problems occur.

In seeking to comply with the Housing Ombudsman Service’s Complaint Handling Code, there’s been a clear trend towards organisations sending formulaic, impersonal and officious-sounding replies to customers who’ve raised concerns.

So what can – or must – we do about it?

Enter the Complaints LAB

We launched the Complaints LAB to counter this trend and find better ways to handle customer complaints. Five housing associations (Homes Plus, RHP, Teign Housing, Trent & Dove and whg) joined forces, with a shared determination to do things differently.

Over nine months, we worked together and with residents who’d made complaints, to pinpoint the reasons for dissatisfaction and opportunities to improve. The results are contained in the first-stage project report Putting people before process, which is free to download.

In three words

To sum things up in a few words, the key finding and recommendation is to BE MORE HUMAN – by focusing on the individual(s) involved in each complaint, how they feel, and what they need to put things right and rebuild trust. As the Ombudsman’s Code says, a complaint isn’t just a transaction; it’s a unique chance to engage with a customer, show you care, strengthen relationships and enhance your organisation’s standing.

We’ve split the 20 ways to handle complaints better into four groups:

• Overview – accepting that current and traditional practice isn’t good enough, and seeing how you measure up to an acceptable standard (the report includes a handy Ready Reckoner self-assessment tool).
• Mindset – genuinely welcoming complaints as an opportunity to learn, being determined to go beyond compliance, and resisting the tendency to become cold and formal when communicating about service failures. There’s no law, regulation or reason for complaints to be a formal business – everyday, friendly and human customer service is all that’s needed.
• Empowerment – customers need to be active and equal partners in resolving problems, not relegated to the passive, powerless position of simply awaiting their provider’s ‘decision’. Most housing staff have the interpersonal skills and motivation to handle difficult situations, so they must be trusted to do this in a natural way. Our research found that visiting or speaking with customers when they complain makes a massive difference to the end result.
• Practice – the Complaints LAB challenge is to make your oral and written responses to complaints the very best communication of which you’re capable. This means ditching standard templates and complex, process-laden language to communicate in clear, open ways that everyone will understand. Meaningful levels of compensation and proactive follow-up to check that things have been resolved are also important. And for the tiny number of residents who make repeated complaints, you need to think creatively and ensure you’re making reasonable adjustments to treat people fairly.

Above all, this is an area of business that demands constant review and improvement. We live and work in a dynamic world, so whatever you’re doing today won’t be good enough in another year or so’s time.

Out of the attic and into the home

If you like a bit of management theory, what we’re suggesting can be summed up in a ‘7S’ diagram. This model (originally based on work by McKinsey & Company) identifies seven things beginning with ‘S’ that organisations need to succeed. Appropriately, these are often represented by a house-shaped ‘cold triangle’ (structure, strategy, systems) and ‘warm square’ (skills, staff, style and shared values).

It feels like housing complaints have been stuffed up into the attic, out of sight and neglected as a core part of business. It’s time to bring this part of customer service back down into the home, where the warmth and people are.

Continuing innovation

We’re currently filling the final places in a second group of housing providers, to pick up from where the first stage of the project finished and develop practice further. Topics we’re keen to review include accurately assessing the cost of complaints and how this varies for different kinds of responses. We’re also hoping to dig deeper into the ways organisations really learn from complaints and prevent problems from reoccurring. And of course we want to showcase examples of great practice.

Faced with the levels of satisfaction reported last year, the social housing world has a simple choice. It can either continue with the process- and compliance-focused approach that our project suggests often leads to anger and frustration, or it can do things that are kinder, more intelligent and centred on customers’ lives. We believe the Complaints LAB gives a clear direction and practical steps to choose the latter.

To find out more or take part in the next Complaints LAB group, please get in touch.