Developing Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems in the Workplace with Sunny Sassaman

Sunny Sassaman is the Founder of ADR Group NW, a firm that provides conflict management and dispute resolution services. She is a Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution Consultant who began mediating professionally in 1999, and she is also the Founder and Owner of Common Ground Mediation Services LLC.

Sunny has a Master's in Negotiation and Conflict Management, and Peace Building from California State University Dominguez Hills. In addition to over 20 years of private practice, her resume includes teaching for the University of Hawaii and Washington State University-Vancouver, associate director for a non-profit, and conciliation counselor. Her clients include federal and county governments, health care organizations, non-profits, K-12 schools, small businesses, and individuals.

Sunny is a past President of the Association for Conflict Resolution and she is currently on the Board and serves as the Vice President for Oregon Mediation Association.

In this episode:

Do you have a toxic work environment? Do you often find yourself trying to resolve conflicts among your employees? More importantly, do you have a good system in place for dispute resolution within your company?

Sunny Sassaman, the Founder of ADR Group NW, believes that there is no one size fits all when it comes to developing a good dispute resolution system for a workplace. Company culture is always the main consideration when building out this system because it helps determine how well team members relate to one another and how issues can be resolved within the team. But Sunny explains that it is always best for organizations to have a neutral and trustworthy third part to help mediate conflict. Why? Because this not only helps put things into perspective, it also makes the conversation more inclusive and offers potential solutions that the team might otherwise miss.

On this episode of the Systems Simplified podcast, Adi Klevit is joined by Sunny Sassaman, the Founder of ADR Group NW, to talk about developing a good dispute resolution system in organizations. Sunny differentiates between a toxic and non-toxic work environment, discusses the importance of getting an outside mediator, and shares examples of conflicts she has helped resolve. Stay tuned.