The Principles of Good Complaint Management

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The Principles of Good Complaint Management

• Professor Alice Brown
• Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
• Complaint Management Conference
• 5 November 2007, Copenhagen

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Valuing Complaints

• An organisation that truly welcomes, values
  and uses complaints to inspire and guide
  improvement will deliver better public services
  than one that does not.

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The Role of the SPSO

• One-stop-shop (service user / customer focus)
• Complaints about all public services
• Alternative to Court last resort
• Maladministration (poor administration) service
  failure clinical judgement (health cases)
• Addressing injustice for the individual and link
  with improvement of delivery of services for all
• Back to origins of why you have an Ombudsman in
  the first place
• Encouraging change in culture to Jewels to be
  treasured

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Key areas where things go wrong

• Poor communication
• Poor record-keeping
• Poor customer / service user focus
• Lack of empowerment of front-line staff
• Poor complaint handling
• Defensive attitudes
• Persistent issues in certain sectors

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What do people want from public services?

• Services that meet their needs
• Good treatment by staff
• Taking responsibility for mistakes
• Learning from mistakes
• Providing good information
• Treating people equally

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What do people want when things go wrong?

• Explanation
• Apology
• Lessons learned
• Same thing doesnt happen again
• Financial compensation

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Feeding back the learning

• By service provider themselves part of customer
  care and good practice part of being a learning
  organisation free market research
• Learning from the Ombudsmans investigations
  monthly Commentaries sent to 1,200 stakeholders
  
• Case study Health Service (DVT)

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Key Principles Valuing Complaints
Unique website www.valuingcomplaints.org.uk
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The pyramid

• Chief Executive - leadership, governance,
  improvement
• - core responsibility
• - standing agenda item
• - regular reporting of complaints data
  internally and externally and demonstrable use of
  that data to drive improvement.
• Management process design (technical elements)
• - self assessment questionnaires, checklists
  extensive reference material.
• Frontline Staff Attitude and Approach (cultural
  elements)
• - advice on how to empathise with
  complainants, manage unacceptable behaviour and
  maintain the integrity and transparency of the
  process.
• - focuses on ways to make front-line staff
  feel empowered to resolve complaints at first
  contact.

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Process Design avoiding escalation

• Informal Resolution
• Trained and empowered front line staff
• Empathy / freedom to apologise
• Formal Internal Investigation
• Trained and empowered investigative staff
• An impartial and transparent process
• Flexible / proportionate
• Clear lines of accountability and authority
• Appeal
• Transparent and independent review
• Referral to SPSO or other independent adjudicator
• Statutory duty to inform complainant
• Clear and published entitlement

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Process Characteristics Attitude as well as
approach
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Characteristics expanded

• AccessibleClear, free, easily understood
  and available to allTransparent Impartial,
  independent and auditableSimpleAs few steps as
  necessary, minimal hand-offs and properly
  documentedEvidence-BasedDriven by the facts
  not assumptionsRespectfulValues the complaint,
  respects the complainant and manages unacceptable
  behaviourAuthoritative Credible, consistent
  and definitive with delegated authorityStandards
  -Based Quality, timeliness and effective
  communicationProportionateFlexible in method
  and appropriate to the circumstancesDemonstrable
  Reported, open to feedback and used to drive
  improvement

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Best Practice Proportionality Just say sorry
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Barriers to apology

• Admitting fault is difficult especially in blame
  culture?
• Lack of support?
• Natural reluctance to admit we have made a
  mistake?
• May not appreciate the value of apology?
• Easy way out could become meaningless?
• Reputational risks/future career?
• Fear of litigation?

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Failure to apologise meaningfully

• Impacts negatively on trust and confidence in the
  system
• Can lead to escalation of a complaint
• Sets the wrong culture and ethos
• Opportunities to learn and avoid similar problems
  are lost
• Can increase likelihood of litigation.

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Benefits of apologising

• Properly delivered, a meaningful apology can
  benefit the organisation as well as the
  complainant. It can take some heat out of the
  situation, dissolve anger and reduce stress for
  both the complainant and the staff dealing with
  the complainant. It can also help to repair the
  relationship between the complainant and the
  organisation.
• An apology is not a sign of weakness or an
  invitation to be sued. It is a sign of strength
  and demonstrates a willingness to learn when
  something has gone wrong. It can also demonstrate
  a commitment to putting things right. To
  apologise is good practice and a vital part of
  any effective complaints management culture.

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Leadership and Culture

• Invest resources and train support staff and
  empower frontline staff
• Monitor and analyse complaints
• Report trends to senior management (standing
  agenda items for Board meetings)
• Share learning with staff across departments
• Identify common themes / issues
• Use feedback from complaints to improve services
• Demonstrate publicly how complaints have helped
  to improve policy, procedures and services

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Conclusion

• Good complaint handling is about making sure you
  have
• the right systems, procedures and processes in
  place
• a good complaints process based on best practice
• well trained and supported staff
• But, crucially, it is about the right attitudes,
  behaviour and culture - a leadership challenge

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End quote

• When complaints are freely heard, deeply
  considered and speedily reformed, then is the
  utmost bound of civil liberty attained that wise
  men look for
• John Milton Areopagitica, 1644

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