Clerk of Courts Association holds conflict resolution luncheon in Mentor

“As we better ourselves, it enables us to serve the citizens of our elected counties to a greater degree.” — Lake County Clerk of Courts Maureen Kelly

L ega l a nd gover nment officials from multiple counties attended an Ohio Clerks of Courts Association meeting on conf lict resolution Nov. 2 at Noosa Bistro in Mentor.

Bryan DePoy, vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer of Lake Erie College in Painesville, was the speaker at the District 8 luncheon. The district encompasses Ashtabula, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Mahoning, Portage, Stark, Summit and Trumbull counties.

DePoy, a certified mediator, discussed different strategies on how managers can resolve conf lict at their workplaces before issues get out of hand.

“In almost every lawsuit, you can trace that back to unresolved conf lict,” DePoy said. “Managers often choose to ignore signs.”

The college vice president advised managers to encourage employees to try and resolve any issues with other employees themselves early on if at all possible.

Supervisors often cre- ate conflict themselves by being poor managers, he added.

T he main causes of employer-generated conflict are failing to regularly communicate with staff, withholding information, having unclear/ inconsistent standards, not empowering workers with the proper technology they need and pitting employees against each other, said DePoy.

It becomes necessary to intervene when an employer notices a pattern of increased absences, a reduction in productivity, a change in body language or verbal tone, a sudden change in behavior and anger on the job, he added.

DePoy advised managers to resolve workplace conflict by remaining calm, listening to each employee’ s concerns one at a time, encouraging “win-win” solutions for each side of the conflict and then confirming agreements in writing.

“Recognize the problem and remain neutral,” he said. “Don’t assume who is the guilty party.”

Lake County Clerk of Cour ts Maureen Kelly said she was pleased that all three county commissioners showed up to the event, as well as state Rep. John Patterson, DJefferson, whose district includes the city of Chardon.

“I’m delighted that so many of my colleagues came from neighboring counties to par ticipate in this professional development district meeting,” Kelly said. “As we better ourselves, it enables us to serve the citizens of our elected counties to a greater degree.”

Lake County Commissioner John Hamercheck said he enjoyed the presentation.

“It was very on point,” he said. “Anytime we can talk about reducing conf lict is good.”