Dealing with unreasonable complainant conduct

So called ‘difficult complainants’ can take up an inordinate amount of time and resources and cause much stress. Widespread anecdotal evidence suggests that their number is growing and the nature of the difficulties they present is becoming more complex.

The unreasonable complainant conduct project, which is in progress across all Parliamentary Ombudsman offices in Australia, has developed a new approach to this problem. The Dealing with Unreasonable Complainant Conduct one-day workshop now makes the new approach available to agencies more generally. It is designed to give staff the strategies, skills and resources to confidently deal with unreasonable conduct by complainants.

For the new approach to be successfully implemented, strong, ongoing and consistent management support is essential. It is therefore important for the workshop to be attended by supervisors and managers as well as front line and case staff.

In the workshop we examine

Your examples of difficult or unreasonable conduct
Our categories of unreasonable conduct
Strategies for managing that conduct
Key messages for complainants/clients and for your staff including the importance of management support for staff to implement the strategies.
Perceptual positions and ways to shift our attention - to enable us to see things from other perspectives
Managing expectations
Key communication skills to achieve better outcomes
Our own communication styles and habits and the part we play in interactions
Limiting access – the rights of the public and the legislative responsibilities of the service provider and when, if ever, it would be appropriate to restrict access to the service
Debriefing and de-stressing – the importance of looking after ourselves.

Comments from previous participants:

There’s often little or no advice given on how to deal with such people, so this was very helpful
It was great to have a framework to identify with; found the whole presentation valuable; these skills can be applied not only for difficult complainants but also for communication in general
The training on communication and listening skills in particular was very valuable
Trainers clear and concise, excellent presentation skills
At no time did I daydream or get bored
Strategies for unreasonable conduct and the scripts are excellent!

Upcoming workshops:

10 April 2008 - Sydney
6 May 2008 - Sydney
26 June 2008 - Sydney
31 July 2008 - Sydney
26 August 2008 - Sydney
28 August 2008 - Newcastle
23 September 2008 - Sydney
23 October 2008 - Sydney
25 November 2008 - Sydney
16 December 2008 - Sydney

For further information, contact Sheila O'Donovan on 02 9286 1019 or email so'donovan@ombo.nsw.gov.au, or Jane Busby on 9265 0416 or email jbusby@ombo.nsw.gov.au.

To register for a workshop, click here.