Conflict between two people is one thing. Conflict that spreads through a team can be far more complex. It seeps into meetings, warps decision-making, and turns everyday interactions into minefields. Alliances form and information stops flowing. Then colleagues second-guess every email and avoid each other in the lunchroom.
Unresolved team conflict comes at a cost. It affects productivity, consumes significant management and HR time and can contribute to absenteeism, complaints, workers’ compensation claims and the loss of good people.
Employers have obligations under Western Australia’s work health and safety laws to manage psychosocial risks. Prolonged, unresolved or escalating workplace conflict can create a risk to psychological health and safety. Group mediation provides a structured way to surface what is driving the conflict, understand its impact and involve the people affected in deciding what needs to change.
Bringing a group together early can prevent emerging issues becoming entrenched. If it is apparent that something within a team is not working, a facilitated conversation provides an opportunity to surface the issues and address them before positions harden or relationships deteriorate further.
Taite uses a structured group mediation process informed by restorative practice. It creates the conditions for an open and honest conversation about what’s happened, its impact and what needs to change.
The process begins with an individual 1.5-hour private and confidential pre-mediation meeting with each participant. Each person has an opportunity to tell their story without interruption, ask questions about the group process and clarify what they hope to achieve.
Importantly, participating in a pre-mediation meeting does not commit someone to participating in the group mediation itself.
If the process proceeds, participants come together on a separate day for a facilitated group conversation. Tania Waters does not decide who is right or wrong or tell the group what the solution should be. She guides the conversation, asks the questions that need to be asked and helps participants hear and understand perspectives other than their own.
The group then makes practical decisions about what needs to change and how they will communicate, work together and deal with difficulties in the future.
This shared experience builds a sense of collective responsibility. Solutions are not imposed from above; they emerge from the group itself, which means people are far more likely to understand them, take responsibility for them and follow through on what has been decided. For many organisations, group mediation is also a smarter investment than running multiple separate mediations. It deals with the root causes in one cohesive process, saving time, money and emotional energy.
Sometimes another survey or report isn’t what’s needed. What’s needed is a conversation.
Where an engagement survey, culture review or employee feedback has already identified issues, group mediation brings the people affected together to address them.
The work happens in the room. Participants explore the issues themselves and make practical decisions about what will change, rather than waiting for another set of recommendations to be developed for them.
Group mediation can also be used proactively to strengthen teams that are already working well.
The process helps the group understand what is contributing to its success, identify issues that could undermine performance in the future and make practical decisions about how the team will respond.
It gives the team an opportunity to protect what is working well, address potential problems before they take hold and identify what could help them perform even better.
If you are an employer, manager, or HR professional in Perth or across Western Australia, and you recognise the signs of a team in distress, group mediation could be the turning point you need. The process is voluntary, strictly confidential, and built around a structured framework that gives your people a safe space to rebuild trust.
Taite’s nationally accredited workplace mediator Tania Waters is independent and impartial. She does not take sides or push a predetermined outcome. She guides the team towards the open and honest conversations that can lead to real and lasting change.
Explore whether group mediation fits your situation. Reach out for a confidential discussion.
