Feedback & Testimonials

Jon came and spent time with us to facilitate mediation.

Jon, Liam and Pete were all fantastic in explaining the process, helping with logistics, offering conversations with our team beforehand so they knew what to expect on the day.

I had many questions and they were readily available and quick to respond. All follow ups and check ins have been clear. I would certainly recommend Pragmatism Mediation.

Feedback from our employee to Jon:

"Please can you feed back my thanks to Jon and how supportive he has been mediating an environment that has taken into account everyone's feeling and views and supported all involved in the process"

"We are one year and a month or so on. Are we perfect? No. Who is? Are we healthier than we were? Yes. There is trust again and an assumption of best intent. Quite a different place than we found ourselves.

We are still using the language together we developed in our session with you ... helping things to move forward. We are creating a new strategy and although it is not as fluid and fast paced a process as I would like there is a willingness to engage with a new world.

I hope and trust your work continues to go from strength to strength. The work place is all the better for it".

I attended a two day Managing 'Difficult' Conversations course on 8-9th November with work colleagues.

Charlotte is an extremely knowledgeable and experienced Mediator, I feel more confident with approaching difficult conversations and will use the strategies taught on the course both in and outside work.

I was somewhat hesitant prior to the course, in anticipation of it being mentally tiring, but it wasn't at all. The group discussions and role plays with colleagues were both helpful, insightful and enjoyable.

I have recommended the course to others already.

Thank you to Pete Colby and Charlotte McCourt from Pragmatism (UK) Ltd for the last 3 days, of possibly the best training I have ever been on! Understanding mediation to such a professional level has really opened my eyes on how companies can save significant disruption, costs and anxiety by taking a let's talk mediation approach!

Truly a total eye opener, and some great learning on how sometimes you have to step out of the HR mindset to get the right thing done, reducing complexity and anxiety along the way. Totally blown away, and can't recommend these guys highly enough! Save yourself the pain, find out more about why mediation may get you back to productive performance quicker than other processes!

Well done to all of the cohort that made this such a fabulous programme, so much learning from all of you, thank you!

I'm sat waiting for my train home after another fantastic experience with Pete Colby and Charlotte McCourt at Pragmatism Mediation. I can honestly say that the 5 day mediation programme is the best training experience I have had in my career! I’m shattered but feel that I have accomplished something - that feels good.

I did the five days split into 3 days and then 2 days. I was fortunate to learn with two great groups of people who worked really well together, checked in on one another for support and who had no problem sharing personal vulnerability as well as ideas and information.

The discussions at the bar in the evening were equally as interesting and great light relief after a day of learning. Thank you Pete and Charlotte and the ‘Feb’ and ‘April Crew’ it was an absolute pleasure.

I can go on and on about Pete and Charlotte and the lessons I’ve learned having only just completed the 5 day course. Pragmatism is the perfect name for this company! Down to earth, they care about people and about keeping things simple - giving people their control back instead of continuing on with a formal process that rarely does anything other than upset everyone involved needlessly with one or other party still feeling aggrieved and ultimately costing the business a lot in time and money.

If you’re reading this review, then you’re already of the mindset that says you want a better way. A way that helps not hinders. A way that does get to the root of the problem and helps people to work it through to a mutually agreeable point while supporting them to really look at the cause of the issue. This course, be it 3 or 5 days will teach you so much that you will use both professionally and personally. You will meet fantastic like-minded people who you’ll learn valuable things from, you’ll receive training, coaching, support and advice that will prove invaluable.

Pete and Charlotte were truly amazing and gave me so much that thank you just doesn’t quite hit the mark. So stop procrastinating, stop wondering and worrying and get yourself booked. You won’t regret it, you may even start to wipe out that imposter inside who says you can’t do it - I know I have. Thank you Pete and Charlotte

We had an ongoing site culture of grievance and counter grievance, a management team that had lost confidence and trust in each other following 20 years of organisation re-structures and numerous changes in management outsource service providers.

Peter assimilated the detail and quantity of information very quickly and got straight to work on the mediation. He engaged with the colleagues involved and held 121 mediation meetings with them, before identifying requirements for pairs or threes within his mediation support, before achieving a group outcome mediation. The result was trust and buy-in to the external mediation process, working through historic issues, concerns, anger, resentment and hurt. The sceptical bought into and trusted his approach.

4 months on - we have the one collaborative team that we had hoped for, accountability and ownership with performance matters being dealt with informally at the appropriate level and a team that now are embarking on a development journey together as one leadership team. The past has been left in the past, and the weight and wasted energy invested in historic matters has been put to much better use. I highly recommend Peter's approach to mediation, with nowhere to hide but to address, resolve or agree to leave behind deep seated personal conflicts. A truly valuable skill set.

"I cannot rate Pete Colby and Pragmatism Mediation more highly. Pete assisted our company in a high- level disciplinary hearing which was an extremely stressful situation for all involved. He was kind and patient with my employees involved in the process and took the time to understand both the nature of the business and the practicalities involved. Pete helped to both reduce stress and provide an extremely professional service throughout. He helped to make a very difficult situation that bit more bearable to deal with. Thank you Pete!"

"I've known Pete for almost ten years. During that time, he has dealt with a number of significant employee relations issues as well as some national level negotiations. Pete has managed these situations extremely professionally, ensuring buy-in and taking time to ensure understanding of all parties to achieve the right outcome for all concerned within reasonable time frames. Pete has a good working relationship with trade Unions which has been proven in different workplaces across the country."

"I had need to call upon Pete's unique skills for a potential sticky situation in a long-established team. Not a team in a large business, relationships within it turning sour could have had a really negative impact. Pete took the time to understand the wider dynamics of what had gone wrong and from this was able to support them in planning a route back to a relationship that could be rebuilt on renewed trust and mutual respect.

I highly recommend any business in need of any form of mediation engaging with Pragmatism and Pete. It will definitely be an investment worth making. Not just for the longer term good but because it can decrease the risk of any financial impact employees not getting along can bring. Issues going unresolved negatively impact the peace and harmony of any workplace and allowing them to fester in the hope they will resolve themselves is not the way to manage this.

People who get along with each and work and always strive to work as a team are more productive all round and if you don't have this environment engaging with Pete is well worth the time and effort."

"Pete is a capable, engaging professional who is able to bring a number of stakeholders together to achieve a common goal. He brings calmness to difficult negotiations and works in a methodical manner, overcoming obstacles to achieve a consensual outcome. I found Pete to be supportive, non-judgemental and someone who considers all perspectives in steering conversations or negotiations to a mutual conclusion. Pete is one of those sorts of people who sees things through to the bitter end. A pleasure to work with."

"Pete always had a smile and was extremely helpful and supporting myself and the other Executives to resolve any people related issues. He is very proactive so as soon as he was made aware of any issue he was immediately "on to it" to ensure that it was resolved as soon as possible. I have to say that I really enjoyed working with Pete and I was saddened when a reorganisation resulted in him moving away to another business unit and it was certainly our loss, his replacement could certainly not live up to Pete's standards."

"Pete is a reliable, trustworthy and dedicated individual. He has a breadth of understanding and appreciation when it comes to managing and supporting large scale businesses with complex people challenges. Pete has built critical credibility and experience from his previous roles being a senior operational accountable leader in his past work experience. He is a genuine people person and builds effective relationships quickly and with ease. At the same time, he has the confidence and resilience to take hard decisions when required."

Feedback & Testimonials

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