The two types of conflict resolution that come to mind when considering conflict in the workplace and how to handle it, are investigations and mediations.
But what do you do if you are aware that a team or service has problems that are impeding delivery or advancement, but you lack the knowledge to make the necessary adjustments? The answer is to undertake a Neutral Assessment. This approach is best described as falling in the middle of a workplace investigation and mediation. It is especially helpful when complicated issues need to be discussed, such as when there are large-scale conflicts or widespread complaints that lead to dysfunctional teams.
The benefits of neutral assessment for our Clients are undoubted:
- It is independent, resulting in trust from the participants
- Anonymous process, resulting in employees feeling uninhibited
- An independent external consultant can devote dedicated time to it, outside of the day-to-day operations, meaning it can be quicker to resolve
- Ability to ask difficult questions with no prior relationship/link to company/personal involvement
- Show staff the company’s intention/commitment to address issues
- Stress independence
- Demonstrate independence by handing over end-to-end organisation and management of the process to external consultants
- Good to give staff a variety of opportunities to engage
- Commit to act on results
- By sharing the results, no matter the outcomes, it builds internal trust
When undertaking Neutral Assessments for clients, we have seen:
- Staff expressing the value of having someone personally listen to their concerns and the chance to express their opinions in a safe environment
- Staff being really engaged with the neutral assessment process and eager to support
- Trust and engagement growing through staff word of mouth – more people wanting to participate than anticipated
- Really concrete outcomes from the reports, to improve things moving forward
- Staff having great ideas for improvement but either time or communication methods not being in place have hindered this before the neutral assessment was undertaken
If you are interested in finding out more on how we do neutral assessments, click here