In many organisations, when tension arises between colleagues or between staff and managers, the default route is well-established: an informal chat, followed by a formal grievance, sometimes progressing to disciplinary action. These systems are policy-driven and legally compliant—but are they actually resolving the issues?
Evidence increasingly suggests they’re not.
In some high-growth sectors like construction, recruitment is relentless—but retention is where the real battle is being won or lost.
For companies expanding rapidly across multiple territories, talent is scarce and demand is fierce. Everyone’s chasing the same high-performing individuals. Salaries are rising, benefits are being tweaked—but despite the effort, employees are still walking out the door.
So what’s going wrong?
When workplace conflict arises, we often look to structures, policies, and performance metrics for explanations. But beneath the surface of most workplace tensions lies something more subtle and far less talked about: psychological diversity.
While organisations are increasingly aware of the importance of neurodiversity and mental health, few have developed the frameworks or fluency to recognise how differences in psychological makeup influence conflict—and even fewer know how to harness this understanding to resolve issues constructively.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping industries, redefining relationships, and pushing the boundaries of what technology can achieve. As AI’s capabilities grow, so too do the legal complexities surrounding its use and development.
When disputes inevitably arise—whether over intellectual property rights, system failures, data usage, algorithmic bias, or ethical considerations—parties must choose how best to resolve them.
Lengthy, costly, and public court litigation is not the best fit for disputes involving something as innovative and fast-moving as AI.
Instead, mediation offers a far more effective, efficient, and flexible alternative.
In this article, we explore 10 compelling reasons why parties involved in AI-related disputes should opt for mediation as the conflict resolution process of choice.Continue reading
The Employment Rights Bill looks set to drive forward the Labour government’s ambitious Make Work Pay plan and will to lead to a significant transformation of the employment law landscape. New protections such as unfair dismissal rights from day one (subject to provisions relating to initial probationary periods) and extended family-friendly entitlements will present employers and HR professionals with new challenges and responsibilities — particularly around how conflict is identified, managed, and resolved.Continue reading
An effective Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategy is commonly regarded as an essential and pivotal component in the design of a modern organisational landscape. Nevertheless, it is becoming clear that a number of challenges have begun to reshape priorities for many leading companies. In recent months large corporations like Microsoft, Google, and Tesla’s have seen shifts in their EDI focus, including a scaling back of programmes. It is clear that EDI strategies need to be both adaptable and sustainable as well as data-driven and impactful.Continue reading
Recruitment Industry:
Do High-Performing Consultants Make Great Team Leaders?
Recruitment businesses thrive on competition. The industry’s very DNA is built around the hustle: consultants fighting for their patch, battling for clients, and pushing for targets. This intensity creates high-performing teams capable of delivering incredible results. But when these same high-performers step into leadership roles, can they translate their competitive edge into effective team management?
Here’s the reality: leadership in recruitment isn’t about hitting targets alone. It’s about fostering a cohesive team, maintaining clear communication, and navigating the inevitable friction that arises in high-stakes environments. In many recruitment businesses, shouting matches and territorial disputes are the norm, but what if the secret to even better performance lay in rethinking how we communicate?Continue reading
In our recent Mediation Rescue Webinar with James Osborne of TRN, we explored the pivotal role empathy plays in resolving conflicts effectively—whether in the workplace, personal relationships, or business settings. This blog post dives deeper into one of the key takeaways from that discussion: how empathetic communication can transform conflicts from destructive confrontations to opportunities for mutual understanding.Continue reading
Conflict is a normal and unavoidable aspect of human relationships. The really important thing is to be able to recognise it or to recognise the potential for conflict early enough to be able to avoid or minimise its capacity to cause damage.Continue reading
The September 2024 CIPD Report “How employers are tackling bullying and harassment at work” reveals a troubling gap between how employers perceive their conflict resolution efforts and how employees experience those processes. For many employers, there is a belief that effective procedures are in place to manage workplace disputes. Unfortunately, employees often report a starkly different reality. This disconnect can lead to unresolved issues, ongoing workplace tension, and diminished employee morale.Continue reading