Conflict Management For the Workplace
Conflict occurs in all workplaces. Conflict can be an effective catalyst for positive change, learning and growth within an organization. If not managed effectively conflict can also be a negative force within an organization damaging relationships, impacting service, creating an unhealthy and hostile work environment. Negative conflict consumes valuable time, resources and most of all, everyone’s energy.
Neutral 3rd works with employers, unions and workplace parties to manage conflict and establish practices that foster a respectful, civil, safe and compliant workplace. Neutral 3rd offers services in workplace investigations, workplace assessments, workplace restoration, mediation, facilitated discussions and conflict coaching.
Services
Mediation and Facilitated Conversations
Ongoing or unresolved conflict between workplace parties if left unchecked can create an unhealthy and unsafe environment. Using mediation or facilitated conversations as part of a conflict management strategy allows the workplace parties work through their conflict in a respectful, safe and civil manner.
Mediation: Neutral 3rd will act as an impartial mediator and assist workplace parties in conflict jointly resolve their concerns. The process is voluntary to the parties in conflict and the resolution is their own. As a mediator Neutral 3rd guides the parties through the mediation process to facilitate resolution in a safe and respectful manner.
Facilitated Conversations: Neutral 3rd will act as a facilitator to assist workplace parties have critical conversations to hear each other, gain insight and work together on common objectives to move towards understanding and resolution. The process is informal and conducted in a safe and respectful manner and is designed for participants to gain insight, focus on problem solving and mutually agreed upon outcomes.
Workplace Investigations
In today’s workplace employers must exercise due diligence when dealing with allegations of bullying , human rights violations, incidents of violence or conduct concerns. Allegations and performance concerns must be investigated in a timely, fair, thorough and unbiased manner.
Process is of critical importance in workplace investigations and the individual conducting an investigation must be experienced, competent and impartial. Neutral 3rd can provide your organization with timely, fair and thorough workplace investigation services carried out by a licensed, experienced and impartial investigator.
Contact Neutral 3rd to explore how workplace investigations can be part of your organizations conflict management strategy.
WORKPLACE ASSESSMENTS
It is important for workplace leaders to be able to identify and understand the source of dysfunctional conflict within their organization. The best time for this exercise to occur is before a negative incident occurs and a formal complaint is filed. A workplace assessment is a proactive exercise designed to provide workplace leaders with information about what is contributing to disharmony and dysfunctional conflict in the workplace.
Unlike investigations that focus on fact-finding and fault a workplace assessment gathers information from workplace parties about their experience and perceptions of the workplace, their working relationships and issues of concern. A workplace assessment is undertaken to determine the root cause of disharmony and dysfunctional conflict in the workplace and to develop proactive strategies to address it.
Neutral 3rd will summarize the workplace assessment findings in a comprehensive report with recommended strategies to address conflict. Proactive conflict management strategies may include mediation, facilitated discussions, group facilitation, dialogue circles, training, conflict coaching, or dispute resolution systems design and development.
Conflict Coaching
Conflict occurs in all workplaces and employees at all levels of an organization can experience interpersonal conflict with the people they work with. Conflict coaching aims to assist those employees in need of developing both their competence and confidence in managing and engaging in conflict. Conflict coaching is a blend of conflict resolution and coaching. It is a voluntary one-on-one process where the coach works with the client to explore options, design approaches and create strategies to improve the client’s ability to engage productively in resolving conflict. Conflict coaching can prepare employees to engage in difficult conversations, participate in mediation or used to implement one-on-one sensitivity awareness or human rights awareness initiatives.
Workplace Restoration
Following an workplace investigation or an incident of conflict involving workplace parties it is often necessary to take steps that go beyond the investigation process or incident management procedures to restore working relationships and address any conflict that may persist. Workplace restoration uses strategies to restore harmony, respect and civility in the workplace. Workplace restoration strategies include mediation, facilitated conversations, conflict coaching, sensitivity or human rights awareness sessions, training or policy development designed to restore balance, respect and civility to the workplace.
Training
Neutral 3rd can develop a custom training program that is specifically designed to address the conflict management needs of your organization to facilitate building a civil, safe, respectful and compliant workplace.
Trending training topics include difficult discussions, civility in the workplace and harassment and sexual violence in the workplace.
About
HELEN EATON
Helen is a Conflict Management Practitioner and the Founder of Neutral 3rd: Conflict Management for the Workplace. Helen has developed her practice to assist workplace parties manage conflict and foster respectful, civil, safe and compliant workplaces. Helen has extensive experience conducting workplace investigations, mediating workplace and human rights disputes, facilitating complaint resolutions and coaching workplace parties through conflict.
Helen’s experience and expertise in conflict management comes from her career of more than 30 years in labour relations, human resources management and human rights conflict resolution. Helen has worked as a Union Representative for an international trade union, a Manager of Employee Relations and Harassment and Discrimination at Lakehead University and as a Director of Human Resources for an Aboriginal Social Service Agency. She has also served as a member of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Helen’s experience working on both sides of the labour-management table gives her a balanced perspective on workplace dynamics and conflict management.
Helen is a member of the Human Resource Professional Association as an Independent Practitioner, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario/Canada and she holds a private investigator’s license with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
CONTACT
Helen@neutral3rd.ca
Phone 807-344-3651
Cell 807-632-9566
Fax 807-286-7995
MAILING ADDRESS
525 Red River Road
Thunder Bay, ON
P7B 1G9
