Shiv Martin's Blog

Backlogs in complaints and dispute resolution systems are often treated as a throughput problem, but they reveal deeper issues in system design, triage, leadership and culture. Drawing on cross-jurisdictional experience, this article explores practical strategies to improve timeliness, protect staff wellbeing and strengthen sustainable dispute resolution practice.

Handling challenging phone calls is one of the toughest parts of conflict work. This guide outlines evidence-based de-escalation strategies, from active listening and empathy to setting boundaries and documenting conversations. Ideal for complaints teams, HR managers, and leaders committed to safer, more professional interactions.

Microaggressions at work can feel small in the moment but cause lasting damage when left unaddressed. This article explores why people stay silent, how unresolved microaggressions escalate into workplace conflict, and how early intervention, mediation, and conflict resolution skills can protect team culture and psychological safety.

This symposium brings together Ombudsman, tribunal, commission and regulatory dispute resolution professionals to explore the real pressures, emerging challenges and practical opportunities in early resolution and conciliation practice. If your team works in statutory dispute resolution, this event is designed for your context.

Artificial intelligence is now part of everyday complaints and dispute resolution practice. From AI-drafted submissions to automated triage, the opportunities are real, but so are the risks. This article explores how regulators, tribunals, and complaints teams can respond with clearer guidance, stronger safeguards, and more visible human judgement.

Explore how to confidently choose between mediation, investigation, litigation, or informal action when managing workplace complaints. Learn what works, when, and why.

Conciliation training doesn’t just prepare you to facilitate disputes. It strengthens advocacy, negotiation, emotional intelligence and decision-making. In an era where AI can draft and research, human conciliation skills are becoming a lawyer’s most valuable asset.

Workplace conflict often isn’t about the issue, it’s about the principle. This article explores how values-based coaching questions and the SCARF framework help leaders and HR professionals reduce defensiveness, surface what’s really at stake, and resolve conflict more effectively.

“Agree to disagree” may reduce tension in the moment, but in workplace, business and regulatory disputes it often creates risk. This article explores why clarity, evidence and procedural fairness matter more than surface harmony, particularly in ombudsman and statutory environments.

Motivational interviewing is a powerful skill in mediation, complaints handling, and regulatory dispute resolution. Learn how it supports clarity, agency, and ethical outcomes in workplace conflict, Ombudsman processes, and high-emotion disputes.

Rigid, black-and-white thinking is one of the biggest barriers to resolving business, workplace and partnership disputes. Drawing on mediation practice, neuroscience and decision-making research, this article explains how flexible thinking reduces escalation, improves negotiation outcomes and supports sustainable conflict resolution in professional settings.

A small number of complaints often consume disproportionate time and emotional labour in dispute resolution systems. Drawing on research and practitioner insight, this article explores how misdirected and high-demand matters reveal gaps in system design, procedural clarity and practitioner support, and what conciliation frameworks need to remain fair, humane and sustainable.