Options for supported resolution

Facilitated discussion / mediation

A facilitated discussion may take place at any stage, including early on in the situation. Both parties should request and agree to participate.

At its most basic level the discussion will be facilitated by your manager, but it could be another manager, leader or someone from HR, sitting with everyone involved to try to get to an agreement and a way forward. The discussion requires a safe and constructive environment. Where appropriate, a facilitated discussion may be undertaken by a skilled mediator, who may be your manager or someone else who is suitably trained, qualified or experienced. All facilitated discussions require the facilitator / mediator to be impartial.

The aim of the informal process...

is to stop the unreasonable behaviour and restore a productive working relationship. Steps could include:

• You report the behaviour to your line manager but do nothing else
• Your line manager or a trusted third party talks to the person whose behaviour you don’t like
1. To give BUILD feedback, which always includes hearing their perspective
2. To agree actions, changes or next steps
3. Then to tell you what has been agreed
• The line manager organises early mediation resulting in an agreement understood by all parties
• If the line manager or HR Business Partner believes there is evidence which requires formal investigation, they may decided to do so even if the employee is satisfied with the informal outcome.
• Written agreements will be the only official record of the allegation.

1. Get the facts.

   • Get clear descriptions of the behaviour, what happened, and be able to describe it
   • Listen and gather the information in an unbiased, empathetic and respectful way
   • Understand the issues and what is needed to resolve them for the different parties involved

2. Define the behaviour.

   Use these guides to be clear if it is inappropriate behaviour, bullying or something else.

3. Decide on an effective course of

   action, tailoring their responses to the seriousness of the issue.

4. Help the parties to agree

   to resolve the issues.

If an employee takes an informal approach to dealing with inappropriate behaviour, including bullying, it doesn’t absolve our hospital from our duty to deal with the undesirable behaviour.

Recognising and promoting diversity

Sometimes cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings or different ideas about what behaviour is ‘reasonable’. Recognising diversity and creating an environment where people are aware of cultural differences and different communication styles can reduce misunderstandings.

Recognising diversity means understanding how people’s differences can bring different strengths. An inclusive and tolerant workplace motivates people to do their best and creates a stronger and more focused team. Informal resolution approaches support people to value diversity, to take into account other people’s strengths and differences.