It's anti-bullying week this week. In this blog I talk about the benefits of talking, listening and understanding - something we do constantly in mediation.

Explicit bullying is simple to deal with - reasonable belief of gross misconduct will generally lead to one outcome. More often it's less clear-cut and a lack of substantiated evidence results in protracted grievances and dissatisfied employees.

There are always solutions but the investment is required in time and understanding people...

Organisations tend to focus on root cause analysis when things go wrong. We believe you should investigate your big successes as the root cause will always be about people. Sustain these and you start to change culture.

Are we thinking that just because we've got a mask on we’re infallible? 

Wonky doors? Dealing with people issues in the workplace is just like working with wonky doors but mediation can help resolve these difficulties.

In this blog our Director and Lead Mediator Pete Colby shares the most difficult issue he's ever had to deal with, which was a perfectly preventable fatality where a young man waved goodbye to his family, went to work, and never returned home. 

Not only was a life sadly lost but the mental health of so many people was affected.

The reason? Quite simple - safe working practices ignored and managers had walked by and condoned the poor behaviours.