E-News – March 2018

Articles

Workplace Restoration Q&A with Anne Grant
Cathy Sheldrick, Queen’s IRC Marketing Assistant, 2018

Queen’s IRC sat down with Anne Grant, the facilitator for our new Workplace Restoration program, to find out more about the topic and the program. In the interview, Anne shares her experience in workplace restorations, including the surprises she’s had along the way. She gives some insight into what makes workplaces toxic and how this program will help organizations that are experiencing disruptions like prolonged conflicts, increased harassment or grievance claims, leadership issues, strikes, investigations or significant organizational changes.

What kind of problems do organizations have that would require a workplace restoration?
A workplace restoration might be needed after a polarizing event like a big investigation. It might be a merger or a strike. It might be difficulties with management. It might be a group of rogue employees causing problems. Often after a strike or lockout, a few rogues, union or management, can keep the conflict alive.

One of the things that I've really seen over the last ten to fifteen years is a need to address the conduct in the workplace. In general, it’s because people are getting into bad habits and engaging in behaviours that are not acceptable in this day and age, as we're seeing in the media right now. People get sloppy, they engage in a lot of things that they shouldn’t, and people put up with it for a long time.

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5 Benefits of Workplace Conflict
Kari Boyle, Queen’s IRC Facilitator, 2017

It may seem like an oxymoron to have the words “benefit” and “conflict” in the same sentence. Our workplaces today often involve varying levels of interpersonal and institutional conflict and so much energy is devoted to prevention and management it is understandably difficult to understand how conflict could possibly have a positive side!

It helps to remember that conflict (including disagreement, difference of opinion, concern, complaint, friction, etc.) is not inherently good or bad. It is an inevitable result of human beings associating with each other in the world, in our families and in our workplaces. There are many articles and blog posts trumpeting the “benefits of conflict” but, on reflection, this phrase is much too simplistic. It is not the conflict that directly creates benefits, it is dealing with the conflict well. The key to unlocking the benefits of conflict is learning to engage effectively with conflict when it arises.

>> Read Article
 

Latest News

Strategies for Workplace Conflicts

Misunderstood emails. Difficult people. Team conflicts. Sound like your office? Every workplace deals with conflict on a daily basis – from the passive-aggressive email to actions that can quickly escalate into serious situations. How we respond to and handle these issues is an important measure of our effectiveness as managers and leaders.

Keep workplace conflict under control. We’ll show you how. Our Strategies for Workplace Conflicts program teaches managers and leaders practical and essential skills for approaching everyday workplace disputes in a constructive and effective way.

Join us at one of our upcoming programs:

• May 1-3, 2018 in Kingston
• June 12-14, 2018 in St. John's
• Oct. 30- Nov. 1, 2018 in Toronto

>> Program Information & Download Brochure

>> Register

We're Nominated for the 2018 HR Reporter Readers’ Choice Awards

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been nominated for the HR Reporter Readers’ Choice Awards for the third year in a row!

This year, we've been nominated in two categories: HR Professional Development and Labour Relations Training.

Please vote for us here: 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards

Conference and Trade Show Update

Queen's IRC will be attending a few conferences and trade shows in the next few months:

• Top Employer Summit, April 4-5, Toronto, Hilton Hotel (Booth E5)
• Together We Care, April 9-11, Toronto Congress Centre (Booth 509)
• HR Leaders Summit West, April 17, Vancouver Convention Centre
• HR Tech Summit, June 26-27, Toronto Congress Centre

Upcoming Programs

Register for an Upcoming Program:

• Labour Relations Foundations Mar 18-23, 2018 (Kingston)
• Coaching Skills Mar 26-27, 2018 (Ottawa)
• Negotiation Skills Apr 8-13, 2018 (Kingston)
• Organizational Design Apr 10-12, 2018 (Toronto)
• Strategic Grievance Handling Apr 17-20, 2018 (Toronto)
• Designing Change Apr 17-19, 2018 (Toronto)
• Advanced HR Apr 24-26, 2018 (Ottawa)
• Mastering Fact-Finding and Investigation Apr 24-27, 2018 (Calgary)
• Strategies for Workplace Conflicts May 1-3, 2018 (Kingston)
• Change Management May 1-3, 2018 (Toronto)
• HR Metrics and Analytics May 8-10, 2018 (Toronto)
• NEW Workplace Restoration May 8-10, 2018 (Toronto)
• Managing Unionized Environments May 15-17, 2018 (Halifax)
• Designing Collaborative Workplaces May 15-17, 2018 (Edmonton)
• Labour Relations Foundations May 28-June 1, 2018 (Victoria)
• Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy May 29-31, 2018 (Calgary)
• Labour Arbitration Skills June 3-7, 2018 (Kingston)
• Organization Development Foundations June 5-8, 2018 (Toronto)
• Talent Management June 12-13, 2018 (Toronto)
• Strategies for Workplace Conflicts June 12-14, 2018 (St. John's)

For an overview of our professional development training, from the perspective of our participants and speakers, please check out our Queen’s IRC Video.

For more program information, download our Spring 2018-Spring 2019 Program Planner.

Email: irc@queensu.ca Phone: 1-888-858-7838 Web: irc.queensu.ca