Defence

Personnel

You’re not alone on fairness and resolution issues

Over the last 12 months, the management of complaints and resolution of workplace conflict in Defence has gone through a seismic shift and, this year, the outcomes will really be felt in bases and offices across Australia. Gai Brodtmann reports.

Defence Equity Coordinator – Queensland, Mr Michael Quinn said fairness and resolution in the management of complaints is now seen as an essential and mainstream part of Defence business – not just a fad.

“I think we are becoming more accepted as a Defence requirement, as opposed to something that is tacked on,” he said.

The shift began early last year when the Complaint Resolution Agency, the Defence Equity Organisation and the Directorate of Alternative Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management merged to form the Fairness and Resolution Branch.

But the merger was more than a name change and restructure. It generated a complete rethink about how complaints are managed and resolved in Defence – and this year will see the culmination of that new philosophy in a range of services and approaches.

“Our aim is to create a flexible, fair, fast and friendly system for everyone in Defence and that will be our focus over 2007,” said Director General Fairness and Resolution, Ms Di Harris.

“As part of that process, we also want to create a culture in Defence that sees the resolution of complaints as a mutual responsibility and a fundamental part of corporate capability,” she said.

“The changes in the branch have been introduced to provide better, more responsive and flexible support to Defence personnel. You’re not alone. We’re here to help anyone in the Defence workplace and we’ve got a raft of options to do that,” she said.

Regional fairness and resolution centres

One of the major changes will come early this year with the establishment of Fairness and Resolution Centres to support every region in Australia. The centres will integrate the branch’s services into ‘a one stop shop’ where personnel can get advice on a range of matters such as equity and diversity, making and managing a complaint of unacceptable behaviour, formal complaint processes and other options for conflict resolution.

“Last year’s merger made us look at the best of way of managing and resolving complaints and we came up with a system that is holistic, regional, responsive, adaptable and applies more options and intellectual horsepower to issues at the coalface,” said Ms Harris.

“Through the centres we’ve put in place a process that ensures a complaint is put on the right track from the beginning and is handled from start to finish. Now we’re focused on coming up with solutions rather than just processing complaints.”

According to Mr Quinn, the centres will make it clear to Commanding Officers and managers that “they’re not on their own.”

“The centres will be another reserve in the Commanding Officer’s tool kit and make it easier to resolve issues at a lower level,” he said.

The centres will provide Defence personnel with access to regionally-based experts, who can advise on the range of formal and informal options available to solving workplace issues, including self resolution, mediation and conflict coaching.

“In the past, alternative dispute resolution interventions have been managed by Canberra, and when a trained Defence practitioner is not available then the cost of hiring an external person has dissuaded people from using this option,” said Ms Harris.

“By recruiting our own full-time dispute resolution practitioners in each Australian region, to supplement our dedicated group of part-time Defence mediators, we can provide that service at no cost regionally.

“The formal complaints process, which results in a winner and a loser, is often not the best way to deal with workplace issues. The regional Fairness and Resolution Centres will encourage Defence personnel to work together with complainants more productively, by talking about issues, rather than reverting to the traditional and combative approach of ‘putting it in writing’.”

The alternative dispute resolution practitioners are being drawn from a mix of permanent and reserve military personnel and Australian Public Service (APS) employees, with wide ranging experience.

SQNLDR Kathryn Cochrane – one of Defence’s new ‘in-house’ mediators to be based in the south-east Queensland Fairness and Resolution Centre.
Photo by Gai Brodtmann

“We’re taking a slightly different direction in establishing these centres,” said Air Force reservist, barrister-at-law and mediator, Squadron Leader Kathryn Cochrane.

“Every workplace is about relationships. If those relationships aren’t working, the cost of disruption is often very high. Mediation is a low cost mechanism to attempt to get the relationships back on track,” she said.

The aim of the centres is to provide options for preventing conflict and identifying solutions and options for early resolution, according to Director Alternative Resolutions and Equity, Ms Helen Marks.

“The experts in the centres will work with personnel to help them work out alternative ways of solving problems at the lower levels. The aim here is to empower and skill personnel,” she said.

Mutual responsibility

According to Ms Marks, the key to empowerment is for everybody to accept that they play a role in making an organisation the best it can possibly be.

“The Defence Collective Agreement for APS employees embodies the principle of mutual responsibility for each individual. Defence APS employees and their supervisors are expected to display behaviours that support Defence and the APS values and to model leadership by example, promoting teamwork and innovation. It’s up to each of us to promote these values and live up to high standards of behaviour in the workplace for the betterment of everyone,” she said.

This philosophy is reinforced by Director Rights and Responsibilities, Mr Peter Sullivan, who develops and implements fairness and resolution policy on equity, diversity, privacy and unacceptable behaviour.

“When creating the new branch, we realised it was important to have an arm that was not locked into reacting to day-to-day operational issues – that it could reflect on situations, anticipate and respond to broader agendas and develop policies that reflected the Defence philosophy that, while personnel have rights, they also have responsibilities,” he said.

Faster response times

The concept of mutual responsibility is one that has been embraced by the branch itself, and 2006 was also spent speeding up the complaints and grievance management process to minimise the stress of unresolved issues.

“Over 2006 there was an 85 per cent decline in the number of Service Chief- level grievances older than 12 months and a 50 per cent decline in complaints older then seven to 12 months,” said Acting Director Complaint Resolution, Mr Kevin Radnidge.

“For unit level grievances, there was a significant decrease in those older than 12 months, with a 57 per cent decline in those older than seven to 12 months.”

Better training

Education and awareness training will be a fundamental plank in the branch’s platform for cultural change. Over the course of 2007 the focus will be on more face-to-face briefings and engaging programs using DVDs and other contemporary tools to bring about a new cultural outlook.

“We will increase the education and training outreach program through more visits to bases and continue the complaint management training that is presently provided to commander-designate, junior officer and senior non-commissioned officer training courses,” said Mr Radnidge.

Talk to us

Ultimately, the branch wants Defence personnel to engage on fairness issues and look at ways of sharing resolution.

“The message is the same for all Defence personnel, regardless of whether you are a commander or manager. We want you to talk to us about the best way of resolving workplace issues and the options available to do this. If you’ve got an issue, let’s talk about it so everybody can help work it out,” said Ms Harris.

“If you don’t want to talk to someone face-to-face then call the Defence Equity Advice Line (page 24), where people are available to talk to you anonymously about your particular issue.

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