WEBVTT 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:44.000 after the other 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:50.000 Yesterday was so hot in Sydney, it was unbearable. So I'm really happy that it's raining today. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:01.000 Yeah, no, it's a I think it's about 20 degrees 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:02.000 Oh 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:03.000 A beautiful walk down on the double Yarragon this morning, our beautiful Swan River just down the road 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.000 That sounds lovely. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.000 Yeah. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:21.000 All right, well, look, I think we probably should get started. Welcome everyone to this webinar, Returning to Work After Conflict. There are a lot of you today, which is fantastic to see and indicates the importance of the topic. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:30.000 If anyone has any questions, do pop them in the chat or contact us afterwards if we don't have time to get to them, because we've got a lot we want to talk about 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:45.000 My name's Melanie Roberts. I'm the practice leader for mediation here at WorkLogic. I've been at WorkLogic for nine years now, and I have a legal background. I've worked both in practice and in academia. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:52.000 I would like to acknowledge the Cadigal people of the Aurora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land I'm on today, and 00:01:52.000 --> 00:02:08.000 I also acknowledge the traditional custodians of the various lands on which you all are. I pay my respects to Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:23.000 Thanks, Mel, and I'm meeting you here today in Mojak country of the Noongar Nation and pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging. My name's Jen Port 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.000 In Perth 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:40.000 and have a similar background, a legal background to Mel, but also spent a number of years working in various HR roles. And I've been working at WorkLogic now for coming up to five years 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.000 So thank you so much for joining us today. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:03:01.000 You can see we've got 142 people on the line. So welcome everybody. Mel, just to get us started, could you tell us what type of situations arise 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.000 Where an employee could be returning to work after 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:20.000 After conflict sure. So there's a few typical situations where that might occur. You've got after an investigation, so that can be obviously particularly challenging when a respondent has perhaps been stood down 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:35.000 suspended, transferred to work in another area. You could have a situation where someone's taking a period of leave because of conflict with a co-worker or a manager, you know, citing a toxic workplace, and they've gone off 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:44.000 on sick leave, on stress leave, or perhaps they've even lodged a workers' comp claim and then they're returning after that period 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:56.000 You might also have a situation where an employee's been involved in an HR process, such as a grievance, or a performance improvement plan, or counselling process 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:07.000 And they've responded really adversely to that, and they've gone off on some form of leave, and now they're coming back into the workplace. So, you know, there's a number of situations that people are having to obviously handle 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:19.000 And previously we always thought of this as, you know, that's an Hr problem. But now we're thinking about it more broadly, including from a work health and safety perspective. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:29.000 Jen, perhaps you'd like to talk a bit to that, to, you know, what are the work health and safety perspective on this? 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:44.000 Yeah, thanks, Mel. Yeah, and I am finding that HR and work health and safety are working a lot more collaboratively together in resolving issues at work. So we do have a duty of care to keep our 00:04:44.000 --> 00:05:01.000 And that is both physically and psychologically. And I think we're all reasonably familiar now with the codes of practice regulating psychosocial hazards in the workplace, which apply in all states and territories 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:13.000 And the code of practice explains that psychosocial hazards at work can arise from a number of things, such as the way 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:21.000 From social factors at work, workplace relationships and social interactions 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:38.000 So managing what is potentially a highly stressful situation where an employee who has experienced conflict is returning to work is not just a HR issue, it is a safety issue as well 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.000 So what does that mean in practice, Jen? 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:48.000 So it's a requirement under the Work Health and Safety legislation to use a 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.000 management approach 00:05:50.000 --> 00:06:04.000 To managing hazards and risks to workers' health and safety. So this provides a really helpful framework for us to think about how we might address this situation 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:12.000 The risk management approach is a four-step approach. Firstly, identifying hazards 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:18.000 So in the case of returning to work after conflict 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:30.000 I guess the first question is, do we actually know what the hazard is? Sometimes that might be obvious. For example, if there is a complaint of bullying, but 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.000 Be clear 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:40.000 And the employee may not be willing to tell us or may not tell you the full story 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:55.000 So the approach you take to discussing this with the employee is going to be really important and it's going to be important for them to genuinely feel that you care and you want to understand what is 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:10.000 trying to support them with. So, explaining that you want to understand, to help support them, to return to work in that supportive environment, asking them what support they need 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.000 And also asking 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:20.000 has impacted them and what can we do to help them 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:31.000 So that will really help inform us, particularly when we're getting to the step of trying to put in place some control measures to control the risks 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:38.000 So the second part of that process, that risk management approach is to assess the risk 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:49.000 Is it that they or others might experience further conflict when they return to work and what harm might that cause to their health and safety 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:54.000 The next part of it is controlling the risk. So what action 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.000 And this is what we really need to sort of think about. And we're going to be talking 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:06.000 What action is required to resolve the conflict and minimise the risk of future conflict 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:16.000 And who is going to be responsible for what? So making sure that that ownership and accountability for implementing that control is really important 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.000 And then finally, monitoring the effectiveness of the 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:32.000 When and who is going to review the controls or the hazard and the controls we've put in place to check that they've been effective 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:37.000 So obviously these conversations, they're going to need to 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.000 Employees 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.000 You know, ensuring that you're telling them that your objective here is to keep them safe at work 00:08:45.000 --> 00:09:00.000 But it might also be helpful to look at other workplace data. So what is that data telling us? For example, are there other grievances in the team? Is this a more widespread problem than we might initially 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:12.000 And that might provide us with some insights as to what we're actually dealing with here. What is the hazard that may exist in the workplace? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:18.000 So I guess my key takeaway here is that careful planning will help mitigate the risk 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:25.000 Of further conflict and harm. And we recommend that you apply a risk management approach 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.000 to proactively 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:43.000 I'd also recommend that you document your risk management approach so that we can come back and check how we're going. And that also is going to be important for that monitoring and reviewing stage 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:48.000 And involve the relevant people, so that 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.000 the managers and the impacted employees. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.000 Yeah. Okay. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:01.000 So Mel, could you tell us how this might work where an employee is returning to work after an investigation? 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:12.000 Yeah, okay, sure. So I think a good example would be in that post-investigation situation where you've got a respondent returning to work 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:28.000 They're going to be several situations which may create stress, which if not managed, may actually prolong or become, you know, quite severe, and may result in harm. So, some of those scenarios could be the complainant employee 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:34.000 is fearful or nervous of any further issues or retribution by the respondent 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:39.000 Then you've got potentially an angry, resentful and disengaged respondent. 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:51.000 And then the team itself could be quite divided with employees taking sides, particularly if they've, you know, had to give evidence in the investigation. They've been called as witnesses. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:11:06.000 And even if they haven't been called as witnesses, they may well have known that an investigation was going on, that respondent is suddenly not at work. And let's face it, confidentiality can be really quite hard to enforce. There's always a bit of gossip 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:17.000 going round, so it… the whole team will be impacted one way or another. And employees are likely to be exposed to this situation on an ongoing and daily basis 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:25.000 And there is a risk, obviously, that this will cause a really stressful workplace environment and potentially further 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:33.000 Could lead to further people going off on leave, could lead to further complaints, could lead to, you know, grievances being lodged, etc. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:43.000 So, you know, there's a lot of potential harm that could occur. So, Jen, what controls can you put in place to try and mitigate some of those concerns? 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:51.000 Yeah, okay. So I think it's really important to have really good communication. Good 00:11:51.000 --> 00:12:03.000 People often, and in a way that really demonstrates that you know that you do care, that you genuinely care. So if we take that post 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.000 Scenario 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:16.000 The first thing is important to ensure that the investigation outcomes have been communicated to the relevant people. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:23.000 So ensuring that the investigation outcomes are communicated to the respondent, to the complainant 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:27.000 Also, to the witnesses 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:34.000 And that last one, making sure that the witnesses are informed that the investigation has concluded 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:47.000 So I mean they have been involved in the process, so it is the right thing to do to ensure that they are aware that the investigation has concluded 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:53.000 Also just, I guess, going back a step, during that investigation 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:12.000 If we're going to try and minimize the risk of harm, that that whole investigation process is going to cause, particularly if someone has been suspended during the investigation, the responder's been suspended during the investigation 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.000 Ensuring that you're doing 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:27.000 To ensure that they are informed of updates on the process, sorry, the progress of the investigation is really important 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:44.000 So obviously having a respondent suspended for any period during an investigation is going to be stressful, but those things like wellbeing checks, making sure that they're updated, is going to minimise 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:51.000 The harm when they do, you know, in the event that they do eventually return to work 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:56.000 The next thing to think about is, has the return to work plan 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:01.000 To the relevant individuals and to the team. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:14.000 So sometimes that important step is forgotten and can cause significant stress when the respondent returns to work on Monday and the complainant was not told. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:20.000 Also, as part of the return to work plan, how would the respondent 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000 integrate into the workplace and the team 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Again, don't just expect them to turn up to work on Monday, and that everything will sort itself out. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:38.000 There needs to be a deliberate plan, and this needs to be intentionally led. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:42.000 It doesn't just happen by accident 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:52.000 Discuss the return to work plan with the respondent and the complainant. So, you know, what is going to happen on day one? 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:55.000 What are the supports in place 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:58.000 What are the team going to be told 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.000 And what do they do if an issue arises 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:09.000 Who do they need, you know, who would be appropriate for them to speak to? 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:23.000 Also, things like who's going to check in with them at the end of the week to make sure that it's not just attention to day one, you know, you sort it out in day one, but, you know, you forget it thereafter. So it's important to make sure 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:31.000 Someone accountable for checking in with them, perhaps at the end of the week and into the future. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:45.000 Also considering the impacts on the respondent. So for example, if you've got a situation where, sorry, consider the impacts on the complainant. So for example, if you've got a situation where the complainant 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.000 Actually 00:15:48.000 --> 00:16:11.000 Is it appropriate to change their reporting line, perhaps for a period of time? Do you need to think about having a third party attend their one-on-one meetings, at least initially? Or should we be looking at some other intervention, such as a mediation, to help restore 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.000 And then finally, considering the impact on the team 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:20.000 How will the team effectively work together 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:29.000 And again, this doesn't just happen. The leader must take responsibility for team cohesion and for culture. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.000 So there's a 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:48.000 an academic called Carl Tretcher. He talks about, you know, as an analogy, an IKEA flat pack furniture, which doesn't just build itself, you have to assemble it. So, the phrase that he uses is 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.000 Some assembly is required 00:16:52.000 --> 00:17:09.000 A team doesn't just build itself. A team does require assembly and it's the leader who needs to take the lead role in making sure that that team is cohesive and is being able to work effectively together. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:12.000 So every situation 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:28.000 And require a different strategy. But I think the important thing is that a strategy is required, including good communication to ensure that employees are confident that the situation is being managed 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.000 So my takeaway there 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:37.000 Good communication will mitigate the risk of further conflict and harm 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:47.000 So, being proactive and aware that a leader must take responsibility for team cohesion 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:52.000 So Mel, who is responsible for this? 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.000 and to achieve 00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:07.000 Well, the manager with the support of HR. So it's not, you know, just left to HR to fix it. The leader does need to take a lead role there, but obviously with the support of HR. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:23.000 And, you know, what is it that we're trying to achieve that, you know, we've got to look at that. Well, what we're trying to achieve when somebody returns from work after conflict is that the employer needs to understand, first of all, well, what does the employee need when they return from work? You know 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:28.000 there's this recovery focus. What do they need in order to recover, to get back to work? 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:45.000 Business as usual. They also need to clarify the employer's expectations on returning to work. So that's to prevent a reoccurrence, okay? And show care, you know, understanding that it can be challenging to return to work after conflict 00:18:45.000 --> 00:19:06.000 And, you know, the employer needs to demonstrate that they're taking steps to support the individual on their return and arrive at sort of clear reintegration strategy, including the communication plan. So there does need to be practical strategies for leaders and teams to rebuild that trust and prevent relapse 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:11.000 Okay, Mel. So, what interventions might work? 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:28.000 Well, there's a whole range of different interventions, and what will work will depend very much on circumstances and the preference of the employees. And it may be that a combination of interventions might work. And again, timing could be really important. So, for example. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:37.000 Just because somebody's returned to work, don't rush into a team building exercise thinking, oh, if we just do a team building activity, the whole team will be happy again 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:47.000 No, that's probably not advisable to do that straight after someone's returned to work after conflict. So, what you might want to consider is 00:19:47.000 --> 00:20:01.000 mediation, facilitated conversation, perhaps a restorative process. Also consider team training programs, for example, a refresher for the whole team on appropriate behavior in the workplace. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:18.000 Something else you might want to think about is upskilling managers to have difficult conversations and always remind employees that there's EAP available and there may also be other well-being policies in place and offerings. So to just remind people of those 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:28.000 Yeah, okay. Mel and some of the common interventions that we recommend at WorkLogic and some of our areas 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:34.000 practice in resolving conflict are mediations 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.000 Yeah 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:37.000 conversations 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:49.000 And restorative processes. Mel, you and I are part of our accredited mediation team that we have in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:57.000 I just thought it'd be helpful to talk about the differences between mediations 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:02.000 conversations and restorative processes 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:17.000 Sure. Okay, so speaking in broad terms, a mediation is voluntary. So the parties have to agree to participate. It's a confidential discussion between the participants 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:29.000 The mediator facilitates that discussion. The mediator does not provide them with a resolution or force a resolution on them. The goal is for the participants themselves to reach a resolution 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:42.000 And even if they aren't actually able to, you know, resolve the dispute or come up with an agreement per se, they would at minimum gain a better understanding of each other's perspective and concerns and views 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:54.000 Facilitated conversation and a lot of people do wonder, you know, what's the difference between the two? Well, a facilitated conversation is essentially a conversation that a third party facilitates 00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:18.000 That's all it is. And the parties can be directed into such a conversation. It doesn't have to be voluntary. And the facilitator can be more directive, may intervene and set, for example, behavioral expectations that need to be met. And they could outline the whole context for what the participant should discuss within that meeting 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:33.000 Restorative process is something that increasingly we are using and employers are really becoming very open to giving that a go with a lot of success. And whatever startup process is 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:48.000 It's a process whereby a safe place is created to focus on repairing workplace relationships and reshaping ways of working together in the future. So it's very future focused 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:58.000 And it can involve a variety of people. It may involve those who are engaged in the harmful conduct in the conflict itself 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:07.000 Could also involve those in a senior role who may be accountable for the harm that arose and colleagues who were witnesses or impacted. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:12.000 So what happens within a restorative process is that 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:18.000 The issues are explored. So in other words, we explore what happened. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.000 And then we look at what was the impact on each of the parties 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:28.000 And then what needs to be done to restore that working relationship between the employees? 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:43.000 So employees are encouraged to share their perspectives, to actively listen, and thereby fostering understanding and trust, and they're encouraged also to take responsibility for their actions. So the focus is very much on the restoration of relationships 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:58.000 developing that understanding, empathy and compassion, and thereby helping to create a framework for a supportive and effective working relationships into the future. And by doing this and prioritizing communication, connection, repair 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:03.000 I mean, these are all necessary steps to build a psychologically safe workplace 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:20.000 So, having sort of outlined those three processes, it might be helpful if we could use some case studies and some examples of how we've used them. So, Jen, would you like to, give an example of a time that you've used mediation 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.000 When somebody's returned to work and how that's gone 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:36.000 Yeah, absolutely. So I've had a number of mediations where there has been a friendship and the friendship might have been established at work 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:43.000 or a friendship that existed prior to the 2 individuals becoming co-workers 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:49.000 And when that work relationship and that friendship breaks down. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:53.000 The consequence can be a really increased 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:58.000 Hurt and stress on those individuals 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:06.000 So I'll use an example. Obviously, I've changed the names, but between two individuals, Bob and Max 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:13.000 Bob and Max were friends outside of work, and Max actually recommended Bob 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:15.000 the organisation 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:30.000 So initially, their working relationship was really positive. However, over time, their working relationship deteriorated, which negatively impacted their friendship 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000 Now 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.000 Because of this 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:39.000 Bob expected Max to be more understanding 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:51.000 Or exercise more compassion towards him at work. And when this did not occur, there was a breakdown in their relationship, leading to conflict 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.000 So this additional complaint 00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:05.000 created a higher expectation of care and a deeper sense of hurt when that expectation was not met. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:06.000 So 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:15.000 Max just saw Bob as not pulling his weight and appearing to be sulky and sullen, and Max became frustrated. Max's frustration 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:20.000 tone and language he used in his communication with Bob, and this 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:26.000 escalated to an incident which occurred in front of the rest of the team 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:30.000 Bob made a complaint that he was being bullied by Max 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:35.000 And Max took a period of sick leave 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:42.000 So with his return to work imminent, Bob was feeling 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:50.000 of anxiety about his return to work and a fear of further conflict 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:59.000 So on discussion with Bob and also with Max and as part of the return to work plan 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:07.000 Mediation was recommended and both parties agreed to participate in mediation 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:19.000 So on this occasion, mediation really helped Bob and Max to gain a deeper understanding of what their own and each other's experience had been. 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:24.000 How they could reset their expectations 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:33.000 and how they could work out how they were going to have a functional working relationship into the future 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:46.000 Did you manage to reach or rather did Bob and Max manage to reach a mediation agreement? And I just wonder if, Jen, in answering that, you could perhaps discuss what's the benefit of a mediation agreement. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:51.000 Yeah, yes, they did. They did reach a mediation agreement 00:27:51.000 --> 00:28:08.000 Just before I go to that, I just wanted to comment on, situations where you don't reach a mediation agreement, because my view is even if a mediation agreement is not, is not an outcome 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:15.000 of the mediation. It is still a really useful and incredibly powerful process 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:16.000 So 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:24.000 And still be very effective. So that mediation process of expressing what the experience has been like for each individual 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:37.000 And hearing what that experience has been like for the other participant, that can be incredibly powerful in enabling the participants to move from an entrenched 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:49.000 Into a more future-focused functional, you know, a position about how they're going to have that functional working relationship into the future. 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:55.000 So, it can create a greater understanding and 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:01.000 Even if they're not ready or not able to reach an agreement 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:03.000 Yeah. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:17.000 So going back to Bob and Max, they did reach a mediation agreement and a mediation agreement can be a really effective way of documenting the participants commitments to each other 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.000 and the organisation 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.000 So 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:29.000 Back briefly, Mel, when we talked about, you know, the mediation processes being confidential 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:30.000 Yeah. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:41.000 What's not confidential is the mediation agreement. So if a mediation agreement is reached, then that mediation agreement is shared with the organisation, so that 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:46.000 Page around, you know, what is the agreement that has been reached by the parties 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:50.000 So, a mediation agreement can help the parties think about 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:55.000 how they want their relationship to be in the future 00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:04.000 And what they will do if they experience the type of situation that caused conflict 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.000 It can be really helpful because they've already got a plan in place 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:16.000 And I've committed to each other and the organisation on how they're going to manage conflict in the future 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:23.000 So, you know, with Bob and Max, the mediation agreement was reached and it covered both the now 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.000 Future 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:43.000 So the mediation agreement set out clear expectations of appropriate behaviours in the workplace, including the expectation, I should say the commitment of both participants that they would treat each other with courtesy and respect 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:52.000 to how they would manage disagreements in the future, you know, by being curious and asking open questions to better understand 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.000 The other person's point of view 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:57.000 And when they don't agree 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:03.000 That then respectfully agree to disagree and to hold 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:12.000 Or if that issue needed to be resolved, they would engage a third party to assist them in resolving the difference 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:17.000 And commit to engaging in that process constructively. 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:28.000 Also, they acknowledged the impact of their relationship on the broader team 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:40.000 It's a good teamwork in the future, specifically they committed to openly contributing in a meaningful way in team meetings 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:47.000 And they committed to not engaging in conduct that was hostile or disrespectful to each other. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:51.000 So I guess, Nel, you know 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:54.000 Participants to care more 00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:07.000 But mediations, by their nature are going to help parties to hear and gain a better understanding of the other person's experience 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:08.000 Sure. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:13.000 and their perspective. So by the very nature of having that greater understanding 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:16.000 That is 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:23.000 Going to lead to increased care and compassion for the other party 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:34.000 So my key takeaway there is that a mediation agreement can allow participants to self-determine how they can achieve a functional working relationship 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:39.000 And agree on a framework for dealing with future conflict 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:40.000 Yeah. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:47.000 So Mel, can you tell me about a time when you have used a restorative process 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:52.000 In the situation of an employee returning to work after conflict 00:32:52.000 --> 00:33:00.000 Yeah, in fact, I had one probably a couple of months ago where 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:19.000 It was a team of six and a manager, and one of the team members had returned following a period of leave. They had taken this period of leave as a result of having allegations against them, and an investigation took place. It was another team member that was a complainant 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:34.000 And this was relating to various inappropriate behaviors. The investigation sustained some, but by no means all of the allegations. But the whole team had been drawn into it. They had all had to give witness evidence. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:52.000 So the whole team was really impacted, and the team culture had broken down. Some of the team members' workloads have really increased as a result of the respondent taking this period of leave off. And anyway, they were just all impacted, and it was quite an unpleasant, disgruntled, unhappy team 00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:08.000 So in this example, when the respondent returned to work, there was actually a mediation between him and the complainant initially, and then, because the whole team needed work, and there was no way doing, you know, a team-building activity was going to 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:14.000 to help the team at this point. They were far too disgruntled and disengaged for that. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:30.000 What we did was we did a restorative process. So everybody in the team was given an opportunity to be heard and they were all able to discuss the impacts on them of the last few months. And then they were able to focus on, well, where do they want to go going forward and how are they going to do that 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:41.000 And throughout this process, the team was able to build compassion and understanding and trust, and they came up with actually some new ways they were going to do things going forward. 00:34:41.000 --> 00:35:00.000 And in fact, it was just last week I checked in on them because 6 to 8 weeks afterwards, we like to do a check-in, and I'm really pleased to say everybody was working well, things were going better than they ever had, actually. So that was really satisfying and really nice to hear 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:12.000 It's hard, though, sometimes to decide what is the right intervention when someone's returning to work after conflict. So, Jen, how do you go about making that decision? 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:14.000 Sure. So 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:30.000 Sometimes you might need a number of interventions, so it might not just be one intervention that's going to resolve the problem. So it might be a combination of mediation and coaching, training 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:45.000 AML training to remind everyone of appropriate behaviours in the workplace. So it might be, you know, making it clear what is above the line and below the line behaviors, as well as ensuring people know 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:51.000 how to be an active upstander, so giving them the skills to be able to, you know 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:55.000 To address 00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:11.000 situations that hopefully then don't develop into conflict Leadership training on how to resolve conflict and having difficult conversations is another possible intervention or combination 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:18.000 Really helpful. So sometimes the intervention that you thought might help 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:33.000 is not helpful or not helpful on its own. So I had a recent example where I was engaged to coach a leader to help them with their communication style and to help them develop 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:36.000 leadership capabilities 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:50.000 There had been some conflict with a co-worker and that the coachee had just returned to work and, you know, after taking some leave was refreshed and ready to go. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:59.000 So during the first coaching session with the coachee, it became clear to me that the conflict with the co-worker 00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:04.000 An ongoing detrimental impact on their wellbeing 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:14.000 And also on their ability to be successful in their role and to achieve their future aspirations and goals. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:27.000 So in that situation, I recommended considering a mediation as a way to help resolve the issues as they were causing a significant roadblock 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:34.000 to, the coachee being able to progress their goals 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:40.000 So in that situation, both coaching and mediation were the right interventions 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:43.000 That 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:48.000 Together we're going to set up that coachie for success 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:58.000 So, my guess, my next tip is that, be open to consider a range of 00:37:58.000 --> 00:37:59.000 Yeah. 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:06.000 Returning to work after conflict and that there is no one size fits all and the situation may require more than just one intervention. 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:13.000 Also, it's not always obvious what that right 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:19.000 solution or right intervention is. And that may only become clear once 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:32.000 So, for example, you know, you might decide that a mediation is the right intervention, but during the mediation intake session, you realize 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:37.000 That a restorative process would be better suited to addressing the conflict 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.000 Yeah, yeah, no, that definitely happened. Sure. 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:45.000 So on that topic of 00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:51.000 Intake sessions, Mel, could you tell us a little bit about what 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:55.000 And why is it important 00:38:55.000 --> 00:39:08.000 Yeah. So we always will have a one-on-one session with each individual who's going to participate, whether it's in a mediation or facilitation conversation or in a restorative process. 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:17.000 And we do that for a number of reasons. To explain the process and what's going to be happening and enable them to ask any questions 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:32.000 and to build that trust and rapport so that they get to know who we are, and they they they trust us to to take them through the process. And that obviously helps from a psychological safety perspective of of the participants who are engaging in in the process 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:44.000 Importantly also to enable us as the mediator, the facilitator, to understand, well, what is the conflict here? You know, what are we dealing with? What is each of the participants perspectives? 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:55.000 And in gaining their perspectives and understanding that, we can also help them in those one-on-one sessions to do a bit of conflict coaching. We help them stand in the shoes of the other 00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:14.000 person or the other people, just start to think about where others might be coming from, and what their perspectives might be. And, also to start to get everyone to think about where do you want to end up? What outcome would you be hoping and looking for, and starting to discuss that 00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:26.000 I'm obviously where you're dealing with a participant who's returning to work after conflict, it's a really good opportunity to understand from them, you know, what are their concerns about returning to work 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:33.000 You know, why do they hold those concerns and really test them and how they can be resolved 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:48.000 In that intake session, we'll also be ensuring that the intervention that had been considered was the right one, or whether perhaps there's something else that we could be doing, something else that could be perhaps better suited. So, you know, there's a lot of reasons 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:53.000 that we do that in tech session, and all of them very important. 00:40:53.000 --> 00:41:09.000 Jen, there's something else that I mentioned just before, which is this check-in process that we always do after a restorative process or remediation. Do you want to just speak to what the benefits of that are? 00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:10.000 Yep, I know you're going to do that quickly. 00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:21.000 I'm going to do that in two minutes, Mel, because we're going to run out of time. But what I'm going to say is one of the key benefits of that post mediation or post-process check-in 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:25.000 Is if we think back to that risk 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:32.000 Final step in the risk management approach, which is monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the controls 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:48.000 That check-in can be a really important opportunity to check with the participants about the effectiveness of that intervention. So was the mediation 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:58.000 implemented as a control in this risk management approach. Was that effective in resolving the conflict and allowing them to move forward 00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:14.000 So I guess there's much more I could say on that, but we might, we might leave it at that, Mel. So what I, I guess, before we wrap up, did you want to just 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:25.000 Share some concluding comments, Mel. 00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:26.000 Hmm. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:31.000 Well, yes, sure. I think that, you know, really you're looking at, you know, what outcomes should an employee think about trying to achieve? Okay, understand the experience of the parties, both 00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:37.000 and clarify what their needs are. Clarify expectations on returning to work. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:51.000 recognizing it can be challenging to return to work and demonstrate that the employer is taking steps and arrive at a clear integration plan. Communication throughout being really, really important. 00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:58.000 So I really hope that that's been useful for everyone to understand all the different types of 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:17.000 ways in which people can be assisted in returning to work. So I just want to thank everyone for attending, and in wrapping up today's session, I just want to acknowledge that conflict can be comes with a great many challenges, and it's an uncomfortable space to be in. There's no doubt about that 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:27.000 Conflict also comes with opportunities. So I just want to end on that note just to think about the fact that, you know, conflict both from a personal and interpersonal level and professional level, you know 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:33.000 That there are opportunities. So don't forget that. That way we can see past perhaps the discomfort. 00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:49.000 Please reach out to us at WorkLogic, phone call, or drop us… contact us through the website. Happy to answer any questions, which I'm really sorry, we ran out of time to answer any questions, but happy to talk through your situations and help you choose the right course of action. 00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:55.000 So thank you, everyone, for being here today.