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Individual Case Studies - Neutral Assessment Training
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the fourth largest police force in England and Wales . Although they had few formal grievances relative to the size of the Force, there was a culture where grievances were bottled up and people 'kept their head down'. They were aware from experience of tribunals that litigation is not a victimless process, and that ET cases impose great strains and stresses on both sides - neither of whom wants to be there.
West Yorkshire Police identified some difficulties in managing their equality and diversity casework. Enquiries, grievance and disciplinaries were flowing in, and despite the best efforts of Diversity Staff many situations were difficult to gain information about - and equally difficult to resolve. An in-house mediation capacity had been developed, but it was not being fully utilised.
Conflict Management Plus Ltd was asked to deliver Neutral Assessment Training in order to help them more effectively manage the difficult situations that team was encountering. This training primarily involved learning how to:
- Adopt an entirely neutral but high-rapport approach to the content of people problems in the workplace
- Receive information in an open, non-judgemental way using structured questioning
- Ensure that interviewees are encouraged to be open
- Explore and record the issues and how they might be resolved
- Encourage informal resolution where possible
- Debrief senior managers about issues and ways forward using a neutral assessment report
- Support the resolution process directly or indirectly
Danny Wilkes, Head of Recruiting and Assessments and Rebecca Howarth, Diversity Office
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