If you are interested in improving the handling of grievance issues in your organization, we can help you meet a number of objectives.

Typical Grievance Issue learning objectives include:

• Prepare, organize and negotiate grievance issues at any stage of the grievance process more effectively
• Design an Alternative Dispute Resolution System that can help you minimize the number of grievance issues and streamline the handling of such issues to minimize the impact on all sides in terms of cost, relationship, stability, and implementation. Such systems can incorporate elements of prevention, negotiation, mediation, peer review, arbitration and other Dispute Resolution methods
• Build relationships and improve communication between the union and management in a way will minimize the incidence of grievance issues and improve the handling of them when they occur
• Design a workshop to create and improve relationships and trust between union and management by training together using the same language and skills in negotiation. Making the other side more comfortable working with you is a one way to get better results for everyone
• Mediate or facilitate Grievance issues

In addition to the methods employed in our public workshops we can customize specific tailored pieces or services for the Grievance context. Follow our link for a sample of possible Grievance Issue tools.

Some of the tools we can use in relation to Greivance goals include:

• Grievance negotiation, mediation, or arbitration role plays (one-on-one or multi-party)
• Dealing with Difficult People and Issues exercises
• Preparing for Grievance negotiations
• Analysis and problem-solving of real world issues affecting your organization and staff
• Negotiation Consultations for Grievance issues
• Mediation, facilitation, or arbitration of Grievance Issues
• One on one or group coaching on negotiation skills, including video analysis and review
• Instructor or coach-led debriefs on role plays

The professionals at the Stitt Feld Handy Group/ ADR Chambers bring a wide range of expertise to the table in the area of workplace investigations. Such investigations of workplace problems by a neutral hold the prospect of achieving better results than many traditional dispute resolution methods such as litigation and arbitration.

Benefits of Workplace Investigations

An investigation by a neutral can add value by:

• Letting all parties be and feel heard
• Getting all of the facts and issues on the table for discussion rather than just half the problem
• Keeping relationships intact along the way and minimizing the adversarial nature of the process
• Identifying the root causes of problems rather than just dealing with symptoms and “rights”
• Helping craft win-win solutions that are designed to deal with root causes of problems
• Maintaining trust in the workplace by using a neutral rather than a manager to investigate
• Minimizing the likelihood of litigation
• Encouraging buy in from all parties and stakeholders

For more information about our professionals and the possibilities of workplace investigations, visit ADR Chambers.

Past customized workshops we have done in the workplace context include a number in which we have brought both union and management representatives together for the same training on principled negotiation and dispute resolution. The benefit of this approach is threefold in that:

• both sides learn to speak the same language in negotiations and see the advantages of a principled negotiation approach;
• neither side worries about what “tactics” the other side is learning behind their back, because they are learning the same techniques together (which are not adversarial by nature); and
• they learn together, bonding and developing human relationships by the end of the training, no longer seeing the other side as “the enemy” but as human beings and colleagues.

Among the clients who have benefited from this approach are the Trade Union Congress of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (and a suite of the related employer representatives), the Ontario Science Centre, Fairfax Printers of Australia and the Electrical Safety Authority.