Facilitation
TMG has provided facilitation services to a broad spectrum of public and private sector clients in both small and large group settings concerning a variety of issues. Examples of our facilitation work include the following:
Federal Aviation Administration/Massachusetts Port Authority Facilitation of Noise Abatement Study for Logan International Airport
TMG led a team of colleagues from several organizations in a collaborative effort to facilitate large and small group meetings as part of a process for consensus building on issues related to a noise reduction study associated with the construction of a new airport runway. This was a highly charged community issue with stakeholders intensely committed to their positions. As facilitators, TMG brought the various participants together for a number of meetings whose goal was to reach consensus in the development of a scope of work for the noise abatement study
New York State Roundtable on the Future of Biosolids
TMG convened, facilitated, and mediated a statewide consensus building project on the hotly debated issue of biosolids (sewage sludges) management and reuse in New York State. The diverse 47-member Roundtable included state agencies, the EPA, NYS legislative commissions, environmental organizations, citizen groups, municipal/city and county governments and treatment plant operators, the biosolids processing industry, farmers, farm lenders, agricultural scientists and academics. The Roundtable deliberated on recommendations for state biosolids regulations, legislation and other management practices regarding biosolids beneficial reuse and a framework for ongoing implementation efforts, research and joint problem solving.
Alaska Seas Workshop: Ecosystem-based Management
The Center for Marine Conservation and Alaska Sea Grant co-sponsored a two-day workshop in Anchorage to generate and explore options for ecosystem-based marine resource management in the Bering Sea. The 60 participants included state and federal marine resource managers from the U.S. and Canada; marine scientists from the U.S., Canada, Russia and England; Native Americans; conservation organizations, and the fishing industry. TMG assisted with planning and process design and facilitated the workshop.
Nursing Home Rate Setting Dispute
TMG worked with representatives from an association of nursing home owners, a citizen’s group representing the elderly, the State Rate Setting Board, and another State agency, the Office of Elder Affairs. The primary issue involved rate setting, and particularly differential rates among different facilities. TMG’s efforts began as a facilitation which ultimately evolved into a mediation of specific disputes.
Community Education group
TMG worked with the small staff of a busy, low-budget non-profit educational organization. Difficulties with interpersonal communication and group process in conjunction with budget constraints threatened the productivity of the organization. TMG conducted diagnostic interviews, and formulated recommendations as part of a process which culminated in a facilitated retreat.
School Committee / Teachers’ Association
TMG was asked to intervene in the labor negotiations between two groups that had a long and contentious history. TMG designed and delivered collaborative negotiation training for the teachers' union and school committee members together in one process, in anticipation of their upcoming collective bargaining. TMG also provided mediation services during the actual negotiation process.
Public School district labor negotiations
This school system had had a long history of difficult labor relations between teachers and the School Board. They had tried a number of approaches to improve relationships, and facing an upcoming negotiation, were apprehensive. TMG spent several days doing in-depth interviews with all the major stakeholders and presented a diagnosis and prescription for steps to improve the upcoming labor negotiation.
Community Hospital Crisis
Conflict arose between a community hospital and a physician practice group when other hospitals and HMOs were vying for the services of the physician practice group. New financial incentives encouraged physicians to leave the hospital, thus threatening the existence of this community resource. TMG principals facilitated meetings between the doctors and hospital administrators to address individual and common interests.
Partnering
TMG has provided partnering services for a variety of large-scale projects including highway construction and coastal flood damage control, working with public agencies, construction contractors, the impacted community and other stakeholders to anticipate problems before they arise and develop strategies and protocols for resolving them.
Massachusetts Highway Department
The Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) and its private contractors have hired TMG to lead partnering sessions for several construction projects. The sessions assisted the stakeholders to anticipate problems and explore ways to solve them, from scheduling and coordination problems to finding ways to improve a preexisting issue-resolution model. These projects have included:
Route 2 Acton/Littleton/Boxboro Partnering: MHD and P.J. Keating Corporation contracted with TMG to run a partnering session to anticipate problems and explore ways to solve them for this resurfacing job on a major transportation artery. This project was one of MHD’s pilots for the Massachusetts Quality Control/Quality Assurance Initiative.
I-91 Viaduct Partnering Follow-up / Problem Solving: TMG provided partnering facilitation and mediation services to MHD and O&G Industries for the I-91 Viaduct project then in-progress in Springfield, MA. During the session, participants generated several improvements to the preexisting issue resolution model, particularly regarding processing extra work orders. In addition, they worked on a specific ongoing construction dispute and clarified next steps needed to resolve the matter.
Additional MHD partnering work involved the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge Project, the I-91 Weave Elimination Project, the Somerville Bike Path Project, the Route 2 Acton/Littleton/Boxboro Project and the Sharon Depot Street Bridge Project.
US Army Corps of Engineers
The Army Corps of Engineers hired TMG to conduct two partnering workshops: the Boston Harbor and Roughan’s Point Partnering Projects. Both of these enhanced joint problem solving, communications skills and trust-building for the many stakeholders from the public and private sectors, and resulted in an agreement to define project goals and to resolve problems collaboratively.
Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project
TMG, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution (MODR), conducted a workshop on ADR for senior management, consulted with management on the nature of negotiation problems they encountered in the project, and provided joint negotiation training for the state and contractors. In this role, TMG advised the parties on producing a process to monitor change orders, to resolve disputes about change orders earlier in the process and more cost effectively, and to anticipate change order conflicts, thus minimizing their impact on the overall construction job.
