ORGANIZATIONAL OMBUDS – AS A PROFESSION

When
Wednesday, May 03, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
LIVE on ZOOM

Registration

Non-Member – $15.00
RIMA Member - Free

Registration is closed

"THINGS A MEDIATOR OR OTHER DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROFESSIONALS MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS UNIQUE ROLE"

An organizational ombuds provides neutral, independent, confidential, and informal services to members of an organization to help them surface and resolve concerns. Ombuds use a variety of skills, including confidential listening, interest exploration, brainstorming, and other skills familiar to mediators.

Despite drawing from a similar toolbox, how are the roles of the ombuds and mediator different and complementary?

Join us as MWI’s Director of Ombuds & Mediation Services, Josh Hoch, and MWI’s Ombuds Program Coordinator, Elise Ramos, discuss the differences, how an ombuds functions, and what mediators and other dispute resolution professionals might want to know about exploring the ombuds profession.

Josh Hoch is an ombuds, mediator, instructor, and Director of Ombuds & Mediation Services at MWI. As Director of Ombuds & Mediation Services, Josh manages MWI’s Outsourced Ombuds Panel, serves as outsourced organizational ombuds for clients including CVS Health (previously) and John Moriarty & Associates, and works with companies interested in starting an ombuds program or hiring conference ombuds. Josh also travels to MWI’s ombuds client sites to meet with senior leadership to educate employees about the role of the ombuds and how to access an ombuds team member. Josh has served as a mediator for a variety of case types for over 20 years and is MWI’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) liaison, where he triages employment and higher education referrals for MWI’s mediators and trainers. Josh is also a mediation trainer who leads advanced mediation training programs for clients, including the Executive Office of the Massachusetts Trial Court and Community Mediation Programs. Josh is a member of the International Ombuds Association (IOA).

Elise Ramos is a mediator and Ombuds Program Coordinator at MWI. She oversees different ombuds projects and teams, assists in developing training material for organizations, and conducts organizational climate surveys and reports for clients. Elise holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Utrecht University in the Netherlands and a master’s degree in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University. In 2020, Elise earned certifications in mediation and cross-cultural negotiation from ESSEC Business School in Paris. In 2022, she completed MWI’s advanced mediation training, became a member of the International Ombuds Association, and completed IOA’s ombuds training, Foundations of the Organizational Ombuds course. In the past, Elise worked designing participatory action research workshops to guide social transformation in conflict-prone settings. She is fluent and comfortable working in English, Spanish, and Dutch.

About RIMA Trainings:

All RIMA trainings , whether referred to as a seminar, workshop, presentation or roundtable are designed to qualify for RIMA mediator CE's and may fully qualify for CE's for attorneys, social workers and certain other professionals.

Programs are believed to qualify for the stated number of MCLE's because they:
(1) Present significant intellectual and practical content as to contribute to the growth of a participant's professional competence and skills;
(2) Present subject matter that is directly or supportively relevant to the practice of Mediation, Dispute Resolution, law and/or ethics;
(3) Are conducted by a person or persons qualified professionally to present the subject matter involved;
(4) When in-person, are presented in a classroom, meeting room, or lecture hall conducive to a meaningful educational experience;
(5) Include multi-modal fashion, utilizing oral presentations supplemented with written hand-outs and texts and visuals. All materials are believed to meet the highest professional standards in terms of their timeliness, organization, and detail; and
(6) Utilize video and audio presentations only as an adjunct to oral and written presentations.

Attorneys seeking Rhode Island MCLE credit must apply via Appendix D on the RI Supreme Court Attorney Portal.

RIMA maintains a record of attendance, content, and completed participant's evaluations for each training.