Union-Management and Workplace Customized Training & Services
Over the years, we at the Stitt Feld Handy Group have done numerous customized workshops focusing on improving negotiation and dispute resolution skills in the Union-Management setting. Read on to see if what we have done for others can help you with your industrial relations issues. Perhaps a customized workshop is appropriate for you.
Over the years, our experienced facilitators have provided training for unions, for management and HR, and for a combination of both union and management from the same organization. Some workshops have focused on general negotiation and dispute resolution skills, whereas others have targeted the areas of collective bargaining negotiations or grievance handling. We are happy to design a workshop that meets whatever learning objectives are important to your organization.
We can design a workshop of any length that is tailored to your needs in terms of learning objectives, timing, budget, and location. We can deliver our training and services at any location world-wide.
Please click on the links below to go to any section of interest to you, or scroll through below to read about all of our services.
JOINT UNION-MANAGEMENT TRAINING
CONTACT - TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION
SKILLS WE PROVIDE OR TEACH
At the Stitt Feld Handy Group, we have the expertise to provide organizations with a variety of forms of customized training as well as other services (described below) in relation to the area of industrial relations and workplace conflict resolution.
In terms of our training, we emphasize interactive learning with a focus on building practical hands-on skills that can be used in the workplace immediately. We rarely lecture at people, preferring instead to build the necessary skills through a combination of engaging role plays, interactive instructor-led discussions, engaging lectures, and exercises. We use our real world experience and examples to flesh out the learning and bring it home in very concrete ways.
Collective Bargaining
If you are interested in improving the process of collective bargaining in your organization, we can help you with a number of objectives.
Typical Collective Bargaining learning objectives include:
- Prepare, organize and negotiate complex agreements, including collective bargaining (enterprise bargaining) agreements, with a coherent effective strategy
- Build relationships and improve communication between the union and management in a way that helps you get better results
- 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
- Mentor or coach key personnel involved in collective bargaining negotiations
- Mediate or facilitate collective bargaining negotiations
In addition to the methods employed in our public workshops we can use customize specific tailored pieces or services for the collective bargaining context. Follow our link for a sample of possible collective bargaining tools.
Some of the tools we can use in relation to Collective Bargaining goals include:
- Collective Bargaining negotiation role plays (one-on-one or multi-party)
- Analysis of Collective Bargaining approaches
- Dealing with Difficult People and Issues
- Preparing for Collective Bargaining Negotiations (using either role plays or actual collective bargaining facts)
- Negotiation Consultations for Collective Bargaining
- Mediation, facilitation, or arbitration of Collective Bargaining discussions
- Communications exercises to improve communication skills like interactive listening
- One on one or group coaching on negotiation skills, including video analysis and review
- Instructor or coach-led debriefs on role plays
For more information on what we can do for you in terms of Collective Bargaining, please contact us.
Grievance Issues
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
For more information on what we can do for you in terms of Grievance Issues, please contact us.
Other Workplace Training and Services
In addition to Collective Bargaining and Grievance Training and Services, we offer a number of other workplace-related services and training that might be valuable for your organization. These other areas are summarized below.
Negotiation Training
Mediation/Dispute Resolution Training
Dealing with Difficult People and Issues
Mediation/Facilitation Services
Arbitration Services
Investigation Services
Collaborative Work Skills
Alternative Dispute Resolution System Design
Negotiation Training
If you are interested in improving negotiation skills generally in your organization, we can help by providing customized negotiation training focused on your organizations learning objectives. Follow the link for typical negotiation objectives.
Typical Negotiation learning objectives include:
- How to negotiate workplace issues in a more cost-effective and productive way
- How to prepare effectively for a negotiation
- How to prepare and negotiate in teams effectively
- how to deal with difficult or positional people
- How to communicate your views clearly and powerfully without damaging relationships
- How to negotiate effectively in the face of a power imbalance
- How to negotiate effectively with difficult people/organizations
- Understanding the role of competition and cooperation in negotiation
- How to expand the pie and get creative win-win solutions by generating options effectively
- Understanding where negotiation fits into dispute resolution and vice versa
- How to negotiate with positional bargainers without being taken
- How to persuade others effectively, particularly using fair standards/objective criteria
- Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of making the first offer in a negotiation
- Recognizing different negotiation styles and how to deal with these different styles
- Understanding “principled” or interest-based negotiation (a style of negotiating often attributed to Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton of Harvard Law School and explained in their book Getting to Yes)
- How to educate the other side on using principled negotiation
- Understanding the roles of positions and interests in negotiation and how to focus on interests
- How to communicate information effectively in a negotiation
- How to listen interactively and reap the benefits
- How to understand and control emotions in negotiation
- How to facilitate the other side’s understanding of the relevant interests
- How to deal with strong emotions in negotiation
In addition to the methods employed in our public workshops we can customize specific tailored exercises on negotiation. Follow our link for a sample of Negotiation tools.
Some of the tools we can use in relation to negotiation training include:
- Interactive Listening exercises
- Improving Feedback exercises
- Workplace conflict negotiation role plays
- Preparing for a negotiation (generic techniques or tailored to a specific upcoming negotiation)
- Professional videos of negotiations for discussion
- Fully customized role plays based on facts provided by you
- Video-taping and review and analysis of negotiation skills
- Complex multi-party team negotiation role plays
- Using Objective Criteria/Fair Standards exercise
- Negotiation Consultations and Advice
- Round table discussions on organizational issues/concerns, as well as facilitated strategic planning discussions to deal with concerns
- Analysis and problem-solving of real world issues affecting your organization and staff
- One on one or group coaching on negotiation skills
- Instructor or coach-led debriefs on role plays
For more information on our negotiation workshops that are open to the general public, please visit our negotiation page at www.powerfulnegotiator.com, where you will see details of course offerings, schedules and pricing (of our public courses).
For more information on the customized training we can do for you in this area, please contact us.
Mediation/Dispute Resolution Training
If you are interested in improving negotiation skills generally in your organization, we can help by providing customized Mediation/Dispute Resolution. Follow our link for a list of typical Dispute Resolution learning objectives.
Typical Mediation/Dispute Resolution learning objectives include:
- How to mediate workplace issues in a more cost-effective and productive way
- How to structure the mediation process maximize the chances of success and minimize potential problems
- How to gather information and move fluidly into problem-solving/option generation
- How to deal with difficult or positional people in mediations
- How to mediate in the face of a perceived power imbalance
- How to handle inflammatory comments or actions
- How to expand the pie and help parties craft creative win-win solutions by generating options effectively
- How to help the parties negotiate more effectively with one another
- Using BATNA to encourage rational flexibility by the parties
- How to identify and frame the issues clearly for the parties
- How to deal with lawyers in a mediation
- How to modify the mediation model for your organization’s context
- How to deal with ethical issues in mediation, including confidentiality concerns
- Understanding the different styles of mediation, including facilitative, evaluative, and transformative mediation
- How to close the gap between parties
- Understanding the roles of positions and interests in mediation and how to focus on interests
- How to communicate information effectively in a negotiation
- How to listen interactively and encourage listening by the parties
- How to understand and deal with emotions in mediations
- How to terminate or end a mediation constructively
In addition to the methods employed in our public workshops we can customize a number of specific training pieces on Mediation/Dispute Resolution. Follow our link for a sample of Mediation/Dispute Resolution tools.
Some of the tools we can use in relation to Mediation/Dispute Resolution training include:
- Workplace conflict mediation role plays dealing with a variety of issues and contexts including interpersonal problems, monetary issues, lying, harassment issues, union settings, non-union settings, etc.
- Role plays with non-neutral mediators (e.g., H.R.), modifying the mediation model
- Interactive Listening exercises
- Improving Feedback exercises
- One on one or group coaching on mediation skills, including video analysis and review, by instructors or our roster of experienced mediation coaches.
- Professional videos of facilitative or evaluative mediations for discussion
- Fully customized mediation role plays based on facts provided by you
- Video-taping and review and analysis of mediation skills
- Complex multi-party mediation role plays
- Live demonstrations of mediation
- Exercises on how to frame issues effectively for problem-solving
- Exercises on dealing with difficult/inflammatory situations and comments
- Role plays with lawyers or multiple parties
For more information on our mediation/dispute resolution workshops that are open to the general public, please visit our dispute resolution page at www.adr.ca where you will see details of course offerings, schedules and pricing (of our public courses).
For more information on the customized training we can do for you in this area, please contact us.
Dealing with Difficult People and Issues
If you are interested in improving your staff’s ability to handle difficult people and issues, and to engage in challenging conversations constructively, we can help by providing customized training to you. Developed here at the Stitt Feld Handy Group, our Difficult Issues training is extremely helpful to many employees including managers, H.R. personnel, team leaders, union representatives, customer service personnel, educators, and consultants.
Follow our link for a sample of Dealing with Difficult People and Issues objectives.
Typical goals for Difficult People and Issues workshops include:
- Analyze, prepare for, and engage in difficult conversations (such as annual reviews) more effectively
- Deliver difficult messages more clearly and powerfully
- Manage emotions and relationships to improve buy-in and facilitate active problem-solving
- Handle difficult personalities and situations productively
- Avoid common (but critical) communication mistakes
- Overcome the fears of engaging in these conversations
- Improve communication skills and frame issues effectively
For more information on our Dealing with Difficult People and Issues workshops and what we can do for you, please follow our link on Dealing with Difficult People and Issues.
For more information on the customized training we can do for you in this area, please contact us.
Mediation/Facilitation Services
The professionals at the Stitt Feld Handy Group/ ADR Chambers are practicing mediators and facilitators who can help you resolve your issues more effectively. Most of our professionals are Roster Mediators, Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program – Toronto or Ottawa. We have mediated and facilitated a broad variety of commercial and non-commercial disputes at the highest levels, and can provide these services across Canada and world-wide.
Most of our mediators are trained lawyers, and many are retired judges from across Canada. From our roster, you will find the mediator and mediation style that is right for your dispute.
Examples of mediations completed by our offices include labour relations disputes, contract disputes, class action disputes, grievances, wrongful dismissal claims, personal injury claims, franchisor/franchisee disputes, and many others. Facilitations have included supplier/distributor, grower/seller facilitated negotiations, multi-union/employer facilitations and many others. Disputes handled range from a few thousand dollars in value to multi-billion dollar issues, and from the relatively simple to the very complex.
Benefits of Mediation/Facilitation
Mediation can assist your organization with disputes, legal or otherwise, by:
- Involving the affected parties in shaping a solution with full participation and buy-in
- Hearing from all affected parties in a confidential setting
- Keeping relationships intact along the way and minimizing the adversarial nature of the process
- Identifying the interests of the parties and, where appropriate, focusing on interest-based solutions rather than rigid rights-based solutions
- Helping craft creative win-win solutions that are designed to deal with root causes of problems
- Maintaining trust in the workplace by using a neutral mediator to encourage full and functional communication
- Keeping control over decisions in the hands of the parties
- Minimizing the costs of dispute resolution if matters can be resolved short of going to court or arbitration
- Resolving issues sooner than by litigation or arbitration
- Where and when appropriate, having the benefit of a neutral perspective on the issues
For more information about our mediation services or to schedule a mediation, visit our sister website at www.adrchambers.com or contact us.
Arbitration Services
Many of the professionals at the Stitt Feld Handy Group/ ADR Chambers are practicing arbitrators. We can help you resolve disputes with the use of an experienced, knowledgeable neutral decision-maker. Our arbitrators have handled some of Canada’s most significant disputes since ADR Chambers was founded in Toronto in 1995.
About Our Arbitrators
Our members are retired Judges and Senior Counsel and other dispute resolution experts dedicated to assisting the legal and business communities, both nationally and internationally, in resolving disputes in an expeditious and cost-effective manner.
Our retired judges are formerly of the Superior and Appellate Divisions of the Provincial and Territorial Courts across Canada. We also have an International panel of respected ADR experts.
Our lawyers are retired Senior Counsel and others who are still in the active practice of law and are called upon at times to assist in arbitration based on their specialty in law.
Our other Dispute Resolution experts are retired members of the insurance industry, professors of law, engineers, architects, accountants and other professionals who offer years of experience in dealing with disputes which arise in their fields of experience and training.
Our Strength is in our ability to offer dispute resolution experts to meet the specific needs of the individual client.
Examples of workplace-related arbitrations completed by our offices include labour relations disputes, contract disputes, class action disputes, grievances, wrongful dismissal claims, personal injury claims, franchisor/franchisee disputes, and many others.
Benefits of Arbitration
Arbitration can assist your organization with disputes by:
- Resolving issues sooner than by litigation
- Hearing and dealing with issues in a confidential setting
- Minimizing the costs of dispute resolution by streamlining the processes and issues, and avoiding the costs of going to court
- Giving the parties control over aspects of the process, and even potentially the remedies, which they would not have if going to court
- Providing a mutually acceptable neutral decision-maker with expertise and knowledge in the area in question
For more information about our arbitration services or to schedule an arbitration, visit our sister website at www.adrchambers.com or contact us.
Investigation Services
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:
For more information about our professionals and the possibilities of workplace investigations, visit our sister website at www.adrchambers.com or contact us.
- 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
Collaborative Work Skills
If you want to enhance workplace productivity, performance and communication, we can help by providing customized training on Collaborative Work Skills. Collaborative Work Skills is a distillation of the principles of negotiation, dispute resolution, communication, leadership and interpersonal skills development, applied so as to enhance the functioning of your organization. To see a list of typical Collaborative Workplace Skills objectives, follow our link.
Key objectives of Collaborative Work Skills training include:
- Improving communication skills internally and externally between stakeholders
- Enhancing productivity and negotiation skills
In addition to the methods employed in our public workshops we can customize a number of specific training pieces on Collaborative Work Skills. Follow our link for a sample of Collaborative Workplace Skills tools.
Some of the tools we can use in Collaborative Workplace Skills training include:
- Workplace conflict negotiation and mediation role plays dealing with a variety of issues and contexts including interpersonal problems, monetary issues, lying, harassment issues, union settings, non-union settings, etc.
- Interactive Listening exercises
- Improving Feedback exercises
- One on one or group coaching on mediation skills, including video analysis and review, by instructors or our roster of experienced mediation coaches.
- Professional videos of workplace situations for discussion
- Fully customized role plays based on facts provided by you
- Video-taping and review and analysis of collaborative work skills
- Complex multi-party role plays
- Live demonstrations of mediation
- Exercises on brainstorming and problem-solving
- Exercises on dealing with difficult/inflammatory situations and comments
For more information on customizing a Collaborative Work Skills workshop for your organization, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you.
Alternative Dispute Resolution System Design
If your organization has problems managing disputes, whether because of their frequency, size, complexity, timing or number, we can help our organization design a Dispute Resolution System to better manage those disputes. Over the years, we have helped design more effective Dispute Resolution processes for a variety of both public and private sector organizations, including the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Ontario Human Rights Commission, Canadian Tire, Bank of Montreal, British Columbia Workers Compensation Board and others.
Goals of Alternative Dispute Resolution System Design
Each system design project is different, but they tend to have the goals of:
- Minimizing the number and frequency of disputes
- Saving costs on handling disputes, particularly legal costs
- Resolving disputes sooner
- Achieving results that are stable and enforceable
- Maintaining good relationships with stakeholders
- Preventing disputes where possible
- Developing processes that are flexible enough to handle a range of dispute types in a manner appropriate to each
System Design Methods
Our tools and methods for Alternative Dispute Resolution System design include:
- Diagnosis of root causes and issues through a combination of methods, including focus groups, surveys, meetings, consultation with all stakeholders, interviews etc.
- Analysis of organizational needs and formulation of a Dispute Resolution process design in consultation with the organization’s key stakeholders
- Incorporation of organization-appropriate Dispute Resolution methods such as prevention, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, peer review, etc. A range of creative interest-based to rights-based methods are considered, including loop-backs, exits, entries and filters to add flexibility where needed
- Inclusion of pilot projects and related training and education where advisable
- Evaluation and reporting on the System Design as required to enhance and improve its implementation
For more information about Alternative Dispute Resolution System Design for your organization, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you.
JOINT UNION-MANAGEMENT TRAINING
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.
For more information on whether some form of joint training makes sense for your organization, contact us.
SOME PAST AND CURRENT CLIENTS
Qantas Airlines (Australia) - This prestigious international airline was developing an internal Qantas-wide dispute resolution system and wanted to add and enhance the relevant skills for the HR department. The training has included online components, a week long workshop, and an ongoing skills boosting component designed to complement the internal mediation processes in development and ensure continued learning development.
Union Gas (Canada) - This major gas company did a program with a focus on improving negotiation skills of employer representatives in collective bargaining negotiations and grievance contexts.
United Food & Commercial Workers- (Canada) - This major union wanted skills development in negotiation, with an emphasis on collective bargaining and related settings. A tailored program was built into the structure of their annual week long retreat for key union personnel.
Australian Industrial Relations Commission (Australia) - This federal commission is a national tribunal dealing with employment issues including dispute settlement, unfair dismissal and the setting of wages and conditions. We were retained to provide a series of workshops for Commission members on improving mediation and conciliation skills to complement the arbitration skills already in place. Our workshops with these high-level decision-makers were intensive ones focusing on mediating complex issues. To add value, mediation coaches and one-on-one instruction with video-taping of participants were used.
Dairygold (Ireland) - This major agricultural products company wanted assistance for its representatives in collective bargaining negotiations and grievance issues, with a focus on maintaining constructive relationships with its many employees and agricultural producers.
Christian Labour Association of Canada (Canada) - This national union has asked us to provide negotiation and dispute resolution training on a regular basis for more than five years, offering targeted short-courses at annual retreats and similar conferences.
Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario (Ontario, Canada) - This large professional association has retained us to provide ongoing workshops on general negotiation and dispute resolution/mediation skills for its members across Ontario in the HR field. We have developed customized workshops designed to help HR managers enhance the performance of individuals and the team or department as a whole.
Electrical Safety Authority (Canada) - This union sponsored a joint union-management workshop on principled negotiation, with an emphasis on its use in preparing for and engaging in collective bargaining negotiations. The process of negotiating a collective agreement can be long and arduous and can lead to prolonged feelings of mistrust between the two sides. Even if an agreement is achieved, a difficult bargaining process can damage workplace relationships that are crucial to maintaining a productive and pleasant workplace. The result included a mutually agreed decision to change the old pattern of starting collective bargaining with a competitive exchange of opening proposals, instead beginning with a joint discussion of union and management interests before the formulation of specific proposals by either side.
Canadian Tire- ADR System Design (Canada) - This major national retail company required ADR system design assistance in an effort to design appropriate methods for resolving disputes within the company more effectively. A creative tailored process was developed with a great deal of employee feedback along the way.
Ontario Power Generation (Ontario, Canada) - The largest power generating company in Ontario has used a combination of customized and public workshops to develop negotiation and mediation skills in its HR staff, managers, and key union personnel for many years now, including a focused two-part training regime for key HR managers aimed at starting an internal program of mediating grievance issues where appropriate.
Australia Post (Australia) - This major crown corporation has had a series of tailored workshops aimed at improving industrial relations within the company, by enhancing negotiation, communication, facilitation and mediation skills. These workshops have helped managers to learn how to: recognize the strengths of specific individuals; motivate different types of people; use the individual strengths to enhance group productivity; promote respect and understanding between workplace members; and how to discuss difficult issues, manage difficult people and confront unacceptable behaviour when necessary.
Bank of Montreal- ADR System Design (Canada) - Needing help with costly frustrating disputes over small business loans, the Bank brought in the Stitt Feld Handy Group to help design a Dispute Resolution process that would minimize problems and help both the bank and its customers get better results. After a diagnosis and consultation with stakeholders, we helped the Bank create a new Dispute Resolution process to use with small business loans (and potentially other areas of Bank business). The flexible new process incorporated negotiation, cool down periods, mediation and escalation to deal with disputes in a timely, cost-effective manner for all. To ensure the new system was understood and implemented on the ground, training and a pilot project were included in the system design process..
Law Society of Upper Canada - Customer Service Representatives (Ontario)- We have designed several customized workshops to assist customer service representatives to respond effectively and efficiently to the callers, many of whom may be very upset, angry or even abusive. Through the workshops, participants learned how to manage strong emotional responses and how to resolve the underlying issue. They were also given tips and techniques to use when the interaction takes place over the phone and others for managing face-to-face conversations. Participants left the workshops with the ability to manage their workload with greater skill, increased confidence and less stress.
Alliance Atlantis - Running Effective Meetings (Canada) - Most people responsible for leadings meetings have received no training in how to do so effectively. A poorly run meeting wastes time and energy. Participants leave the meeting feeling frustrated and ideas and opportunities are lost. The interactive workshops we designed have helped participants to refine their ability to establish an effective process, thereby getting the most out of meetings. Specifically, participants learned how to: encourage reluctant speakers to share their ideas; manage people who may hijack a meeting; promote creative problem-solving; bring issues to closure; and ensure follow-up after the meeting.
OUR INSTRUCTORS
To learn more about our highly qualified and experienced instructors, many of whom have significant experience dealing with industrial relations issues, check out their instructor bios. Our instructors bring their special combination of strong theoretical grounding, great real world experience and excellent teaching/interpersonal skills to all of their work.
CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION
