TMG has designed and conducted programs in numerous public and private institutions and has trained hundreds of participants in the skills and concepts of conflict management, collaborative problem-solving and alternative dispute resolution. Through customized trainings, TMG helps participants develop tools for dealing effectively with the inevitable differences and conflict that permeate today’s complex organizations. We believe that providing training in collaborative negotiation, problem solving, active listening, mediation and other conflict resolution skills can greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization’s work. Entrenched dysfunction is an all-too-common obstacle to the optimal productivity and well being of an organization. Not least among the benefits of undertaking trainings in conflict resolution skills are the impact on organizational learning: identifying and managing conflict can be a constructive, systemic tool, yielding enormous opportunities for strategic planning and proactive learning.
In order to assure that our organizational work is meaningful and productive, we customize our trainings to the specific needs and skills of each organization. While there are certain core ideas and skills that we incorporate into many of our trainings, we do not have a prepackaged, one-size-fits-all model. Based on our long history with institutions in the Boston area we recognize that each organization has a unique culture which must be the starting point for any effective intervention. Depending on the requirements of different clients, we can design trainings for participants on the executive, middle management and front-line levels. We understand that it is critical to get the right people to the table: while conflict may break out at any part of an organization, it typically takes place below the top executive level, and in order for our work to be effective, the intervention needs buy-in both from the top and from the key-player levels.
TMG’s training clients have included schools and universities, hospitals and health care organizations, governmental agencies and other for- profit and not-for-profit organizations from both the public and the private sectors. A sampling of that work is described below:
Trainings for Education Clients
Harvard University Trainings
Over a period of several years, TMG has provided mediation skills training for a wide cross-section of administrative and professional staff including line managers, supervisors and human resources staff.
Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Mediation skills training for a wide cross-section of administrative and professional staff.
Harvard University Peer Mediation Training
Conflict Resolution training for managers and administrators at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and several other graduate schools at Harvard University.
Harvard University Personnel Training
Conflict management training for line managers and supervisors in Harvard’s Central Administration and administrative units.
Harvard University Administrative and Professional Staff and Human Resources Professionals
Series of Mediation training programs for Harvard Administrative and Professional Staff and Human Resources Professionals.
Harvard Medical School Mediation Training
Mediation skills training for a wide cross section of administrative and professional staff.
Northeastern University Training
TMG provided a training for Human Resources Management staff in negotiation and mediation skills. Emphasis was on organizational conflict, conflict arising under situations of stress and organizational change.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
In conjunction with the Mass. Office of Dispute Resolution (MODR) -- now MOPC -- TMG designed and delivered two half days of conflict resolution training for the Human Resources staff at DESE ; a follow up training geared specifically to DESE supervisors and managers is in development.
Trainings for Health Care Clients
Montefiore Hospital, New York
TMG, together with the Center for Health Care Negotiation, designed and conducted a 2-day intensive training for bioethicists at Montefiore Hospital in New York City. The ethicist team, led by Nancy Dubler, was already knowledgeable in medical decision-making, ethical guidelines and hospital procedures, but needed training in the use of conflict resolution skills and techniques for what were often high conflict moments for families, providers and the hospital administration. The training consisted of cross-disciplinary conflict resolution theory, videotaped role plays, and close supervision and feedback to individual ethicists. After the training, TMG was asked to follow up with case consultations, as the ethicists applied their learning to actual cases.
Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program
TMG provided a negotiation training through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for specialists at the Board of Health’s Tobacco Control Program who assist communities with both passing and enforcing tobacco control regulations
Nonprofit Staff Training (client names confidential)
TMG provided a basic training in conflict resolution skills for the front-line staff of a nonprofit program working with women in crisis.
Disclosure Training (client names confidential)
A local hospital engaged TMG to design and develop an online, interactive educational module to train its medical providers in how to conduct meaningful and effective disclosure conversations with patients, in the event of medical errors or other adverse occurrences. The curriculum was developed to be integrated into the patient-centered culture of the hospital.
Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
TMG conducted a review of the agency’s appeals processes and also provided a training in conflict management skills to the Connector’s roster of hearing officers.
Trainings for Public Sector Clients
Environmental Sector:
Environmental Attorneys Mediation Training
TMG, in conjunction with MODR, developed a comprehensive program to prepare a panel of Boston Bar Association environmental lawyers to mediate wetlands disputes. The program included a skills evaluation, two days of training, and an observation and continuing supervision program for each trainee.
Hazardous Waste - Negotiation Training
TMG developed and conducted, in conjunction with MODR, a series of negotiation trainings for staff at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP)'s Bureau of Waste Site Clean Up. The sessions focused on identifying and using sources of leverage, analyzing the potential for integrative bargaining, and negotiating effectively in a multi-party situation.
Massachusetts Water Resource Authority Training
TMG developed and provided a series of 2 day conflict resolution trainings for staff of the MWRA.
Environmental, Transportation, Construction & Public Saftety Training
TMG created and led a training for ADR Coordinators to encourage and facilitate the use of ADR in their offices.
Environmental Careers Organization Training
TMG ran a Mediation and Communication Workshop for interns of the Boston Environmental Justice Leadership Program
Judicial Sector:
New Hampshire Court Mediation Program
TMG developed and conducted a series of two day negotiation and mediation trainings for court mediators in the New Hampshire Superior Court.
Training of Palestinian Lawyers and Judges
TMG, in conjunction with Leodas and Associates, provided mediation training for Palestinian lawyers and judges. through the Search for Common Ground organization.
Office of the Attorney General Staff Training
TMG delivered an advanced training in negotiation skills for staff of the AG’s office.
Other Governmental Agencies:
DCAM training
TMG delivered a two-day training in mediation skills for staff at the Department of Capital Asset Management
Office of Employee Relations Training
TMG delivered a two-day training in mediation skills for personnel of several state agencies.
New England Commissions Against Discrimination Training
TMG provided conflict resolution skills trainings for both local and regional offices of the Commissions Against Discrimination
State Planners and Engineers
TMG provided negotiation and mediation skills training for state planners and engineers through the Massachusetts Highway Department.
Department of Industrial Accidents
Through the Flaschner Judicial Institute, TMG ran a training in conflict resolution skills for conciliators in the Department of Industrial Accidents
Human Rights Officers
TMG developed and delivered a series of negotiation trainings for human rights officers at the Department of Mental Health.
Central Artery/Tunnel Project
TMG, in conjunction with MODR, conducted a workshop on ADR for senior management, consulted with management on the nature of negotiation problems
they encountered in the project and conducted a joint negotiation training for the sate and contractors. TMG later provided a series of Negotiation Skills trainings for top executives responsible for reconciling contractor claims.
Training for Prison Superintendents
TMG provided conflict resolution skills training for prison superintendents throughout the Commonwealth through the Massachusetts Department of Corrections
Bureau of Budget Training
Through MODR, TMG delivered training in negotiation skills for staff in the Fiscal Affairs Division of the Bureau of Budget.
