| A New Kind Of Meeting You've probably been in this situation before. An issue arises that starts out small or insignificant in terms of your time commitment. Perhaps a request for access to a facility or a phone call from accounting regarding an unresolved audit query or a partner whose outstanding account has suddenly blossomed. You send off an email or two, maybe exchange a couple of phone messages or even talk "real person to real person" on the phone and still nothing is resolved. In fact the issue has escalated - that initial email grows longer and longer as it forwarded and replied to again and again; more people in different departments are now involved, emotions are rising, positions are getting entrenched and resolution seems far away or impossible. Worse than that, this issue is now taking up more and more of your time and keeping you from working on your projects that actually add value. You are frustrated and uncertain of what the next steps should be. Great news - help is available. The next step just may be a SAM (that's a "Situation Assessment Meeting"). Before you say "Not another meeting" here's some background that explains why this might be one of the better meetings you have ever set up and attended. In 2002, the Company to Company (C2C) dispute resolution task force was initiated to find more effective and efficient ways to handle company to company conflict resolution. GPAC, as an association, has been involved since the beginning and is a founding Member Organization of C2C. In 2004, the handbook known as "Let's Talk" was published and the C2C ADR Council was set up to promote the work of the task force. Let's Talk provides the industry with a Tool Box of opportunities to assess your unique conflict and take more effective control of your path to resolution. One of the tools in the Tool Box is SAM. As described in Let's Talk, "SAM is a safe, quick, cost-effective opportunity for all parties to meet to discuss the nature and extent of their dispute, and plan together possible options for moving their case towards resolution". SAM is equivalent to the Prelimary ADR meeting (PADR) which is one of the initial steps in the ERCB's dispute resolution process. Simply put, the objective is to first understand the issues and the alternatives before jumping to solutions. SAM is the triage to reduce time in the operating room (i.e. reduce time in court or hearings and minimize avoidance). Another "tool" in the Tool Box is the Problem Solving Planner (PSP). It is a very helpful exercise to go through prior to setting up a SAM or at any time when a dispute or negotiation is heading out of control. The PSP will assist you to answer questions including:
Too many questions? Not enough time? As challenging as it can be to find time to initially try this approach, it will be time well spent. The Let's Talk Handbook was put together by industry professionals (engineers, landmen, accountants, lawyers) who have experienced the same challenges that has been discussed in this article. These methods really work. By slowing down and trying this different way, you may actually find more of your time freed up to once more work on those value added projects that were set aside in order to deal with the out of control conflict. The C2C ADR Council is a purely voluntary organization serving industry. The Let's Talk Handbook in a printed binder is available for sale from the C2C website (www.c2dadr.org). Alternately, the tools can be downloaded for free from the same website. Please take a look. This article first appeared in Energy Processing Canada
magazine |
