We held this webinar to help HR professionals and managers who are struggling with employee relations. The Pragmatism team were on hand for an hour-and-a-half to answer whatever questions were thrown at them and we hope anybody watching the recording will find this useful.

Magic fairy dust is that special something organisations rely on when promoting people to their first management position, you know the stuff that makes managers know how to deal with conflict, have conversations about sensitive topics and nip issues in the bud early?

Unfortunately we all know it doesn't really happen like that, this blog looks at the reality of many organisations and how there is a much better way that enables managers to join Pragmatism on the Revolution to Resolution®!

By Kelly Emmerson (Mediator and Trainer)

There is a lot of fear around Trade Unions as employers start to contemplate the possibility of recognition. Much of this fear is due to a lack of experience of working with unions and a false impression of what they are about.

Whilst there will always be challenges in this area, our experience tells us that Trade Unions are not to be feared - in fact quite the opposite, and that's certainly my experience.

Because there is a lot of fear-based messaging out there we wanted to ensure organisations have a balanced perspective which is why I spoke with a few of our team - Doug who is an ex full-time Trade Union official, together with Jon and Pete who have worked with Trade Unions for decades within their corporate careers.
 

When it comes to reasonable adjustments, most people genuinely want to do the right thing, the manager wants to support their employee and the employee just wants to get on and do their job well. So why does it so often end up feeling like a battle?

In my experience the real sticking point usually isn't the adjustment or the instruction itself, it's that little word "reasonable", and once positions harden it gets tricky to come back from. Here's why a good quality conversation and proper listening is the only way forward.

Managing people is hard - it's the most challenging part of any line manager's role. For many the job is almost impossible because they're not developed with the skills they need to make them effective leaders.

Good conversations are so important for any leader of people, but it takes confidence to have 'difficult' conversations. It's very easy to expect managers to have good conversations but it isn't that easy to do if they don't have the tools they need to do the job!