1993

I specialize in organizational and workplace conflicts - between equals, with supervisor/employee and within teams. My orientation is to help leaders who want to engage conflict constructively and harness its potential as an opportunity for more healthy, respectful and compassionate workplaces. I look at each conflict as unique which might need support through conflict coaching, mediating, training, team/leadership development or a combination. I collaborate with my clients to create a solution that is constructive, educative and restorative. My speciality is to work in fields which serve the public good, including health care, education, all three levels of government, the non-profit and spiritual sectors. I enjoy supporting leaders and human resource professionals faced with the responsibility, and opportunity, of transforming conflict into a constructive, generative and creative force.

Coaching – I have extensive experience in coaching leaders, supervisors and employees to engage conflict more productively. I’ve been on the teaching team at the Justice Institute since 1998, I have a professional coaching designation from the International Coach Federation and I’ve been coaching health care professionals in a leadership development program since 2004. Coaching is especially effective when wanting to be more assertive and hold people accountable for their behaviours.


Mediating – I started mediating in 1993 – working with community, civil claim and victim/offender cases for 5 years. Since 2000, I have specialized in workplace disputes – mediating mostly in healthcare, educational, government and non-profit sectors. I believe workplace conflict is often systemic, and one of the best tools to bring divergent opinions together in a team is the use of “Circles” (also known as the “Way of Council.”). Any workplace that has teams could benefit from using a Circle approach regularly. It’s a kind of team communication hygiene 101 which creates a way to deal with issues like a need for more role clarity, a change in policy, etc – instead of just putting out fires dealing with individual/inter-personal conflicts. I am also the sole Canadian distributor of Mediator in a Box.”


Training - In addition to teaching for decades at the Justice Institute of BC’s Centre for Conflict Resolution for over 20 years and at their Centre for Leadership, I have taught at Royal Roads University’s Masters of Conflict Analysis and Management and through the University of Victoria’s Human Resources department, as well as for smaller organizations and associations including BC’s Human Resource Management Association. Most recently, I have co-created an online, on-demand course on “How to Have Difficult Conversations” - easily accessible at www.onconflict.com. This video course, complete with workbook and worksheets, has a simple 8 step model designed to help anyone prepare for a difficult conversation in the workplace. Training is often needed when workplaces are suffering from conflict (though often not the only part needed). When a team has the same understandings of how to do conflict well together, that can go a long way to cultivate a more compassionate and innovative workplace and culture. I am also the sole Canadian distributor of Mediator in a Box and offer training to go along with the Box as well. I am also the co-author of Hold On To Yourself – How to Stay Cool in Hot Conversations.


Team/Leadership Development – Conflict in the workplace is often symptomatic of other issues under the surface – whether it’s a need for supervisory/assertion skills, a need for more team development and acceptance of differences, or a lack of clarity about roles or policy. I prefer an “emergent” approach to organizational change and development work – creating ways for more information to be shared to make wiser decisions. I am familiar with, and use, research-based team/leadership development tools such as Kouzes & Posner (The Leadership Challenge), Bushe (Clear Leadership) and Lencioni (The Advantage and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team). Coaching, Mediating (and/or Circle Discussions), and Training are also other aspects which may be needed to further the development of a team.


Free Conflict Newsletter – Since 2002, I have distributed a monthly ezine on conflict topics related to Health, Environment, Negotiation – called HEN. The newsletter is available for free at my website: www.juliamenard.com, which also speaks about Mediator in a Box. For those with an interest in conflict and leadership and the online How to Have Difficult Conversations course, check out www.onconflict.com