Venting vs. Complaining: Why the Difference Matters for Culture
June 16th, 2025
As a follow-up to last week’s post on the “Culture of Complaining”, I want to dig deeper into a common workplace mix-up: Venting versus Complaining.
They sound similar—but the impact they have on your team, your energy, and your culture is wildly different.
Venting is a Release
Venting is temporary. It’s a moment of honest frustration that, when heard, helps someone decompress and reset. Often, venting ends with: “Thanks—I just needed to say that.”
Venting usually points to a solvable issue. Once the problem is addressed, the need to vent disappears. It’s productive—even when it starts in frustration.
Example:
“I just need to vent for a moment—the new forms are so frustrating and not streamlined, and the way Jenny needs us to fill them out is really time-consuming. It would be so much better if this were a simple online form.”
Here, there's emotion, yes—but also insight and potential for improvement.
Complaining is a Cycle
Complaining, on the other hand, is repetitive and toxic. It’s less about release and more about rehearsal. It loops the same issues, without movement, ownership, or any intention to change.
Example:
“These forms are stupid. Jenny is clueless and on such a power trip. No one asked our opinion. Management doesn’t get it. This is ridiculous—I’m not doing it.”
Here, the focus is blame—not betterment. Complaining spreads disconnection, erodes trust, and fosters a “we vs. them” dynamic.
Venting Clears the Air - Complaining Pollutes It
As leaders, we need to create space for **healthy venting** while actively redirecting **chronic complaining**. One of the simplest tools? A powerful, curious question:
“What would you like to do about it?”
This opens the door to:
Focusing on solutions.
Empowering your team to take ownership.
Showing you're open to hearing and integrating feedback.
This is how we shift from a culture of frustration to one of connection and agency. This is how we start to eliminate those “closed door complainers.”
Final Thought
We can’t fully change someone’s personality—some people will always see the glass half-empty, but as leaders, we can influence the behaviours we expect, model, and reward.
Just like we “teach people how to treat us”, we also shape the culture we lead…and in the workplace, we get the culture we create and if we ignore it, we get the culture we deserve!
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