Shiv Martin's Blog

Conciliation is the quiet achiever of dispute resolution. Drawing from Ombudsman models, this article explores how organisations can use conciliation to build trust, improve fairness, and manage workplace conflict effectively. Learn key lessons and practical tips for leaders, HR, and complaints teams.

Why do leaders struggle with challenging workplace conversations? This guide explores the common mistakes managers make when avoiding conflict and offers proven strategies to handle workplace bullying, performance issues, and team tension with clarity and confidence. Practical tips for HR, mediators, and leaders included.

As the year wraps up, many HR professionals, managers, and staff step into high-stakes conversations about roles, pay, or performance. But one common mistake can derail these discussions: “going high.” This blog explores why inflated opening offers trigger defensiveness and how interest-based negotiation leads to trust, clarity, and sustainable outcomes in modern workplaces.

How can leaders handle workplace bullying with confidence? This guide for HR, managers, and mediators explores practical strategies to spot bullying early, respond effectively, and use mediation, conflict coaching, and training to reduce risks and build healthier workplace cultures.

In the age of AI, conflict management remains a deeply human skill. Workplace conflict resolution training and mediation services help leaders build trust, psychological safety, and resilience. Learn why empathy, communication, and conflict coaching are essential for thriving workplaces in today’s complex environment.

Complaints and conciliation staff face unique psychosocial hazards, with some of the highest rates of mental health claims in Australia. This blog explores how workplace design, environmental psychology, and conflict resolution consulting can improve staff wellbeing, resilience, and performance in high-stress roles.

Facilitated conversations provide a structured, neutral way to resolve workplace disputes across government, healthcare, education, and corporate settings. Discover how they work, when to use them, and why they can save time, stress, and cost compared to formal complaints processes.

Conflict at work is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to derail your business. Discover how mediation, facilitation, and coaching can transform difficult conversations into stronger teams, healthier systems, and long-term business resilience.

If you manage a body corporate or strata community, you already know: conflict is not a matter of if, but when. From noisy neighbours to funding disputes, shared living brings together a wide range of personalities, expectations, and values all within the confines of complex regulations and laws.

In every workplace I visit, whether it is a government agency, a school, or a fast-growing business, I see the same pattern. Teams do not fall apart because of one big blow-up. They start unravelling when hard conversations are avoided by leadership for too long. Time and time again, I see that the single business factor that impacts team culture is the ability of leadership to connect and earn the trust and respect of their team.