Facilitated Conflict Resolution for Workplaces & Organizations
Knapp Resolutions helps workplaces and organizations to better identify and understand sources of conflict, then guides team members in how to communicate about and resolve disputes.
Workplaces and organizations in conflict are not productive.
Team members suffer when unresolved conflicts fester.
Trying to make things better sometimes unintentionally causes more harm. Everyone feels the negative effects of stress, leading to poor attendance, leaves of absence, faltering work performance, and reduced quality of service.
And all of this affects the bottom line.
Sometimes you need professional guidance and support.
Knapp Resolutions helps workplaces and organizations to better identify and understand sources of conflict, then guides team members in how to communicate about and resolve disputes, with a plan for lasting accountability.
When you seek professional assistance to resolve organizational conflict, Knapp Resolutions begins with a consultation to understand the current situation and overall goals. Then recommendations are made for a restorative conflict resolution process that may combine various elements. Multiple sessions are often scheduled to break down aspects of the problem and build solutions that meet participant and organizational needs.
A restorative conflict resolution process is more than just mediation.
A restorative conflict resolution process may include and combine various elements such as:
- Group workshops to build capacity for conflict resolution
- Individual coaching sessions for leaders or team members
- Facilitation of group discussions
- Facilitation of discussions between individuals
- Facilitation of strategy and planning sessions
- Mediation of identified disputes
- Restorative processes focused on making things right
Our team was facing a longstanding interpersonal conflict that was severely affecting our productivity and morale. Cherolyn built trust and established a structured approach that helped us address and move past the merry-go-round of old issues. With her help, we transformed one of the most acrimonious departments in our health care facility into a high-functioning team.
Medical Leader, BC, Canada
Conflict Resolution Frameworks We Use
Traditional Insight Conflict Resolution Model
The traditional conflict resolution or collaborative problem-solving framework encompasses six stages: preparing, introducing process, identifying issues, exploring interests, brainstorming solutions and agreeing, and implementing solutions. This model is based on the philosophy that mediators can provide structure for people in conflict to articulate the issues to be resolved, explore each other’s underlying interests, gain insight and understanding into each other’s perspectives, create solutions that address those interests and then move forward with implementing the agreements they have made.
Restorative Justice Practices
A benefit of incorporating restorative practices into conflict resolution processes is to address harms that have happened. In The Little Book of Restorative Justice, author Howard Zehr outlines key principles. When harm happens, the adversarial justice system focuses on what laws have been broken, who did it, and what they deserve. Conversely, “restorative justice is an approach to achieving justice that involves, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific harm to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations in order to heal, and put things as right as possible.”
By importing restorative practices, we make adjustments to the traditional insight mediation framework to ask these key questions:
- Who has been harmed?
- What are their needs?
- Whose obligations are these?
- Who has a stake in this situation?
- What are the causes?
- What is the appropriate process to involve interested parties or contributors in an effort to put things right and address underlying causes?
High Conflict Strategies
Cherolyn has specific training and experience working with high conflict situations and people who exhibit high conflict behaviour. In these situations, Cherolyn incorporates the CARS Method® taught by the High Conflict Institute®, as well as The 4 Big Skills™ required to engage in conflict effectively:
- Managed Emotions
- Flexible Thinking
- Moderate Behaviours
- Checking Yourself
Cherolyn Knapp assists participants to engage in difficult conversations in a way that they can effectively express themselves, hear what others are saying and listen to understand, and think creatively to build solutions tailored to their specific situations.
Cherolyn Knapp is a knowledgable and experienced conflict resolution expert.
Cherolyn’s practice focuses exclusively on conflict and dispute resolution as a neutral party. She is especially well-known for navigating high-conflict and difficult situations. Cherolyn leverages over 15 years of prior experience as a civil litigation lawyer in a range of conflicts and disputes including workplaces, property, contracts, estates, business partnerships, and more.
