iMp - Mediation Services

	Anna Booth

	Michael Donovan

	David Lawrence

	David Stephens

Recent University of Melbourne study of 50 high profile crises in Australia and New Zealand (2007), uncovered some disturbing results . . .

Between 43% and 49% of organisations took more than 6 months to return to their pre-crisis reputation and staff morale levels respectively.
Within 12 months of the crisis, 11% of board members, 13% of CEO's and 25% of senior managers had resigned (figures climbed above the 50% mark for financial organisations)
Criminal charges were laid in 9% of cases.

‘Our study highlights the critical importance of the mediation process between Board members, the CEO and Senior executives during a crisis event.’
– Victor Del Rio, Melbourne University Quantitative Study of CEOs in Corporate Crises.

Our former CEO Mediators can assist you decrease this high risk if an external crisis event strikes. We can also assist your senior talent handle internal crises and restore work relation balance.

ARTFUL MEDIATION, CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE EXECUTIVE SUITE

Unresolved conflict is “a time bomb without a clock. No one can safely handle the time bomb or predict when it will explode. Organizations spend enormous time, energy and money cleaning up messes created after long ignored or hidden issues erupt.”

The solution can be found in applying ‘interest-based negotiation’ using a third-party unbiased trained mediator.

This approach steps outside of the powerful default decision-making styles of most executives and separates the people from the problem.

Done well, the process provides a safety valve for resolution of difficult inter-personal disputes. This is a valuable resource to have on hand. It is yet another appropriate tool to be applied from the board-room to the executive suite and below.

Interested? Download this text as an eBrochure – Click here – Team Conflict Resolution Service – Executive Mediation

Sample Problem

In their paper, Is Silence Killing your Company? (Harvard Business Review May 2003) Perlow and Williams argue that: ‘ . . . in organisations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations . . . silence can exact a high psychological price on individuals, generating feelings of humiliation, pernicious anger, resentment and the like that, if unexpressed, contaminate every interaction, shut down creativity and undermine productivity’.

This so-called Spiral of Silence can emanate from the top-down or from the bottom-up. Highly intelligent and well-intended senior people may be reluctant to see in their own behaviour a rejection of suggestions they find uncomfortable coming from their subordinates. Whereas those very subordinates may feel that they are jeopardising their career progression if they speak up and are seen to ‘rock the boat’.

Clearly, an environment needs to be created in which those in conflict can safely address the issues, be assured of confidentiality and with the further assurance of an independent facilitator, expose the issues and discover resolutions that all the parties can work with.

In most cases – certainly in those at senior levels, this function cannot be adequately or appropriately undertaken within the HR function because there is generally a reporting relationship or perhaps a conflict of interest as they may be part of the matter and one of the parties in conflict.

Solution

iMentor-pro offer a unique service – executive business-mentors who are accredited mediators trained in conflict resolution within the sphere of the executive suite and the direct reporting lines into the top-team environment. Singularly or often in co-mediation, these mediators explore the issues between individuals and teams. In confidential discussions, they work with the teams to find solutions to the issues that they can all live with. Within this framework, provision is made for one-on-one confidential discussions between the mediator and the individuals who have issues. The mediator seeks to help each individual identify options for dealing with the issue directly should it or others arise in the future.

In this way, the Spiral of Silence is replaced by a Virtuous Circle with immediate beneficial effect on the team and on the business. As the participants become used to talking to each other about difficult issues within a teamed framework, the leadership team can address future issues and prevent them becoming impediments to progress.

All of our mediators are former senior executives or CEO’s with outstanding credentials. Where individual clients prefer individual representation within the mediation we offer co-mediation. This style of mediation is also useful for large or complex matters.

Should the task warrant specialist expertise, we have access to some of Australia’s best qualified and experienced mediators with broad ranging backgrounds and subject-expertise. Just ask.

iMentor-pro Mediators

Anna Booth – Advanced Mediation, Dept of Law, Bond University

Michael Donovan – Accredited and Member Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators, Australia

David Lawrence – Accredited and Member Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators, Australia

David Stephens – LEADR trained and Member of Leading Edge Alternate Dispute Resolution

Download the eBrochure on our Executive Mediation Service:
Click here – Team Conflict Resolution Service – Executive Mediation

iMentor-pro offer business mentoring using former Australia CEOs, chief executives and senior executives who have proven their success in business. While iMentor-pro has frameworks and methodologies around which to structure mentoring sessions with executives, iMentor-pro also customise our business mentor sessions to meet corporate and individual needs. Results and proven development are achieved by having our methodology and framework link to that of the corporate client. Using our proven business mentoring methodology or mentors can monitor progress or use software called Socrates to mentor-monitor our accredited mentors who are also trained mediators. Mediation and mentoring techniques have considerable cross-over. iMentor-pro also spell our name imentorpro to pick up typo errors in URLs using imentorpro instead of imentor-pro. Mentoring supports but is different to executive coaching. Executive coaching uses executive coaches instead of mentors. Executive coaches are excellent at skills transfer while executive mentors are better at experiential transfer. While you may look for a coach consider exactly what you want in terms of executive development. Many good executive coaches do not have a solid business career background that enables them to tackle the hard issues. They may call themselves business coach or executive coach but they fall some way short of the service provided by a trained executive mentor who goes way beyond what many executive coaches claim is executive coaching for business. Look for a qualified business mentor who knows business mentoring well. Accredited mentors are trained in the critical elements of leadership, have a mentoring methodology and framework and expect to have their contribution measured and monitored within strict confidentially. Our mentor training software and two-day training program for executive mentors in-house provides for your team development needs at a high level of executive engagement. The training is only delivered by our accredited executive business mentors. Executive development has to include reward, retention and attraction in order for succession plan to have the best intellectual and business capacity or capability in the talent pool. IMentor-pro are the best in Australia. business mentoring, mentors, executive coaching, executive coaches, business mentor, business coach, executive coaching, executive development, business, mentor, coach, executive, Australia, imentor-pro, imentorpro, executive learning, mentoring for success, Harvard mentoring, international mentor professionals, executive learning and development, coaching panels, coach panel, mentor panel, mentoring panels, Socrates mentor-monitor, mentor monitor, Socrates, trained mentors, mentor training, business mentoring, framework, methodology, mediation, executive mediation, executive mediation services, corporate development needs, individual development needs, trained mentors, results, confidential, reward, retention, attraction, executive talent pool, intellectual, business capacity and capability, succession plan, Michael is foundation member of the creative skills training council Asia-pacific Australia, www.cstc-apa.com, his company imentor-pro are winners of the Top 10 COOL COMPANY AWARD 2006, http://www.eventconnect.com.au/. event connect, michael donovan, www.michael-donovan.com We are elite executive coaches. As executive coaches we can be regarded as a superior business coach using executive coaching as executive development. imentor-pro and imentorpro offer a special executive learning experience where we mentor for success along the lines of a Harvard mentoring model. Wea re regarded as international mentor professionals in the areas of executive learning and development. imentor-pro are accredited on a number of coaching panels, coach panel representation, mentoring panels and mentor panel services. Our sophisticated Socrates mentor-monitor software is based on Socrates principles in order to train mentors. Mentor training is essential for success and our framework is unique in Australia. The methodology employed meets a wide range of corporate development needs and individual development needs. Imentorpro only use trained mentors to guarantee results that are confidential and are based on reward, retention and attraction of the best candidates in the executive talent pool. We aim to stimulate intellectual business capacity and capability so as to position them in the succession plan. We are elite executive coaches. As executive coaches we can be regarded as a superior business coach using executive coaching as executive development. imentor-pro and imentorpro offer a special executive learning experience where we mentor for success along the lines of a Harvard mentoring model. Wea re regarded as international mentor professionals in the areas of executive learning and development. imentor-pro are accredited on a number of coaching panels, coach panel representation, mentoring panels and mentor panel services. Our sophisticated Socrates mentor-monitor software is based on Socrates principles in order to train mentors. Mentor training is essential for success and our framework is unique in Australia. The methodology employed meets a wide range of corporate development needs and individual development needs. Imentorpro only use trained mentors to guarantee results that are confidential and are based on reward, retention and attraction of the best candidates in the executive talent pool. We aim to stimulate intellectual business capacity and capability so as to position them in the succession plan. We are elite executive coaches. As executive coaches we can be regarded as a superior business coach using executive coaching as executive development. imentor-pro and imentorpro offer a special executive learning experience where we mentor for success along the lines of a Harvard mentoring model. Wea re regarded as international mentor professionals in the areas of executive learning and development. imentor-pro are accredited on a number of coaching panels, coach panel representation, mentoring panels and mentor panel services. Our sophisticated Socrates mentor-monitor software is based on Socrates principles in order to train mentors. Mentor training is essential for success and our framework is unique in Australia. The methodology employed meets a wide range of corporate development needs and individual development needs. Imentorpro only use trained mentors to guarantee results that are confidential and are based on reward, retention and attraction of the best candidates in the executive talent pool. We aim to stimulate intellectual business capacity and capability so as to position them in the succession plan.