coaching & consulting services inc.

Formal Interventions

Sometimes informal options to address issues are either unsuccessful or not reasonable under the circumstances. At these times, it's most important to clarify what happened and how these facts compared with legal and policy standards. Lawyers are expensive. TNZ consultants are not lawyers but have the training and expertise to conduct fair formal processes that follow all principles of natural justice and due processes

Our formal services include:

1. •Investigation: Professional conduct, respect, harassment and a range of other fact-finding processes that lead to reports to clarify facts and whether standards have been met or breached.
   

2. •Arbitration: A range of issues are dealt with by each party presenting their perspectives to an impartial and neutral arbitrator who assist in negotiating what is negotiable and makes a binding decision on the matters that cannot be resolved through negotiation.
   

3. •Adjudication: Our neutral and impartial adjudicators review processes and decisions to ensure that they were fair and that decisions were either reasonably supported by the evidence or were a reasonable application of the standard in the circumstances of the parties.  These are often processes offered to parties who are appealing an earlier decision.
   

4. •Assessment: Less formal processes where all members of an area are given an equal opportunity to present their perspectives on issues, to debrief the impacts of these upon them and to propose suggestions for improvement.  Our facilitators then reflect the key issues, interests and options back to the group anonymously, confidentially and safely before proceeding with processes to resolve the issues.
   

5. •Policy Review:  Our policy experts review existing policies and procedures or assist in the development of new policies to ensure these reflect best practices for organizations and consistency with current legal expectations in employment standards, human rights and occupation health and safety legislation.
   

More developed descriptions of some of these services include:

Impartial and Fair Investigation

Investigations are impartial information gathering and analysis using standards of due process to establish the merits of individual complaints. Investigations determine whether conduct violates organizational, professional and legal standards. The evidence is documented and decisions are made based on principles of natural justice and citing relevant jurisprudence.

The Neutral Zone investigators provide fair processes to:

1. •clarify differing perspectives,
   

2. •allow each relevant person an opportunity to present their view and respond to the views of others,
   

3. •determine the facts about what actually occurred;
   

4. •analyze the facts in the context of relevant policies and/or legislation;
   

5. •make a finding of fact about allegations of discrimination, harassment or professional conduct issues.
   

Contact us in confidence to discuss options without any obligation.

Assessment

Team Assessments

Sometimes, you know that something is wrong with the team, but it's confusing to determine exactly what the issues are. You see the behaviours and you know some of the issues, but it's difficult to determine to what extent different members of the team experience different issues. Assessments are less formal than investigations. They involve information gathering and analysis to identify the sources of individual or group/team difficulties or dysfunction as a foundation for addressing the issues. Members of a team are privately and confidentially interviewed and a report is generated making recommendations for improving relationships and team functioning. The team has the opportunity to shape the report and recommendations in the interviews. Debriefing of the report leads to action steps and enduring improvements.

Contact us to learn more.

Beyond 360º Individual Feedback

Most organizations have discovered the value of providing a process that gives leaders and staff an opportunity to both present feedback on their workplace and received feedback from colleagues, leaders and clients.  However, most of these 360ª feedback tools take significant amount of co-workers’ and clients’ time, rely on dry survey-based tools that yield sometimes confusing quantitative results and are costly.  The Neutral Zone’s Professional Reflection process goes beyond standard 360ª tools by providing a time- and cost-effective, personal and confidential process involving any or all of the following steps:

1. •private and confidential mini-interviews with participants, supplemented by surveys where requested;
   

2. •outcomes of feedback presented in summary report for leaders and subject participant;
   

3. •feedback provided in solution-oriented coaching sessions that not only present data to build insight, but also teach new skills and strategies;
   

4. •formalized commitments for professional improvement where requested.
   

Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.

Policy Review

Developing organizational policies that meet objectives, anticipate issues and provide effective approaches to achieve standards is an often confusing task. Policies that focus on minimal standards excluding important legal considerations or that provide unwieldy detail can lead to more problems than if no policy existed in the first place. However, a succinct and clear policy that provides enough guidance through specific detail while preserving organizational freedom and discretion can not only protect the organization but can contribute to a work and service culture that reflects the organization's values in every action its members take. A typical Policy Review process entails the following:

1. •in consultation with designated leadership roles and any committee involvement, a clarification of the policy's objectives and development process;
   

2. •a thorough comparison of any existing policies in the context of other organizational policies;
   

3. •an analysis of existing policies compared with standards established by other similar organizations and by the courts;
   

4. •identification of options to improve existing policies with specific language suggestions;
   

5. •facilitation of policy development in consultation with key organizational roles.
   

Typical policy reviews address issues such as:

1. •Human rights complaints including discrimination, harassment, duty to accommodate, undue hardship, employment equity, definitions, standards, and informal and formal process options;
   

2. •Professional conduct issues including conflict of interest, due process and diligence, and standards of conduct;
   

3. •Respectful workplace expectations including diversity, cross-cultural communication, use of language in the workplace, dispute resolution in the work and service environment, inclusivity and sensitivity;
   

4. •Effective handling of client/member/patient complaints and issues, business and medical ethics, ethical decision-making,
   

5. •Allegations of wrongful conduct and "Whistle-Blower" policies including definitions, process options and standards;
   

6. •Disciplinary interventions consistent with any professional association and union contracts including progressive disciplinary approaches, performance management and absenteeism.
   

Contact us to discuss your questions about policies and options to address your objectives.