Group and Company Profiles
The Companies
Dispute Solutions Pty Ltd (ACN 073 649 064) was established in 1996 to provide innovative, professional dispute resolution services to individuals, businesses, families and organisations of all types and sizes. Dispute Solutions' core philosophies, values and competencies are based on the values, and the work and life experiences of the company's founder - Jon Kenfield - a leader in the fields of dispute resolution and conflict management since 1986.
The Solutionist Group Pty Ltd (ACN 107 863 507) and Solutioneering International Pty Ltd (ACN 107 863 525) were established in 2004 to handle the increasing amount of pure problem solving work (ie: non-conflict based work) that Dispute Solutions was being asked to undertake as a result of its success in dealing with conflicts - especially in private and family businesses.
Service Features
Many of our clients come to us highly stressed and, since they only come when they have serious problems they can't solve themselves, we are usually confronted with very real challenges. Over the years spent dealing with conflicts of all types we learnt a few things about process facilitation, dealing with all types of people (including some very difficult characters) and solving problems of most shapes and sizes.
The result, whether we are working through Dispute Solutions or TSG, is a highly principled, structured and facilitative approach towards problem solving that utilises the principles of Solutionism in all aspects of its delivery.
- Above all, we listen. Then we usually ask a lot of questions. Then we listen again, and again, and again. We really will understand your problem and your and any other involved party(s) needs and interests before we begin to suggest a response.
And we offer:
- Flexibility - high levels of knowledge, experience and skill in most types of best practice dispute resolution and problem solving processes.
- Professional credibility and competencies: Multi-disciplinary skills and experience in law, accounting, finance, business and people/relationship management.
- Extensive practical and professional experience in resolving commercial, workplace and matrimonial disputes.
- Highly developed abilities to assess, design and apply powerful problem solving processes to individual disputes, conflicts and other challenges.
- Professional and commercial independence - very limited danger of conflicts of interest.
- The combination of a positive, constructive, "can
do" attitude with good people, great processes and modern business
structures - all designed to deliver maximum cost effectiveness for our clients:
- Attitude - for us, a job well done is a problem, dispute or conflict well (re)solved. We get great results for our clients, which usually means all parties to a dispute or problem. We often achieve great results precisely because we consciously avoid following the herd down conventional professional tracks.
- People - in addition to our own staff we use only carefully selected and highly skilled problem solvers and dispute resolvers - and then only ones who think the way we do.
- Professional Processes - our modern, flexible processes are individually tailored to specific assignment needs - delivering quality results consistently, efficiently and quickly.
- Business Structures - we use modern business structures and technologies to enable us to deliver superlative services at remarkably reasonable prices.
Scope of Work
We have been involved in resolving disputes for over twenty years. Initially, most of our work came from within conventional legal and accounting environments. For more information please see our associated websites: www.disputesolutions.com.au and www.forenzic.com.au .
Now we are also heavily involved in producing creative and strategic solutions for a much wider range of problem situations and personal and business challenges.
Since the early 1990s, a growing proportion of our work has been with small and medium businesses, partnerships and, especially, with families and family businesses. They range from tiny "Mum and Dad" operations to very large ($1Bn +) businesses. They either come to us in extreme distress caused by internal and/or external conflict, or because they recognise they have a profound challenge in front of them (eg: corporatisation and/or leadership transition) and their normal professional advisers can't supply or facilitate the answers or processes they need to get them there.
We now receive many more referrals from "switched on" professional advisers - especially lawyers, accountants, financial planners and psychologists - who recognise that they have a client in a once-in-a-lifetime situation that requires a different type of problem solving process.
We work closely with these advisers to produce great solutions - and then bow out gracefully, leaving the adviser in a stronger position with their client than before - with the client appreciating that their needs have been given due attention and priority.
We now facilitate critical commercial negotiations, particularly in situations where the commercial substance has been obscured by the legal formalities - and the parties feel they've lost control of their own deal! This is one of the highest and best uses of our strategic analysis, problem solving and mediation skills: we re-empower the parties and help them feel they are back in control, while the additional clarity their lawyers get about the commercial substance of the deal helps them to produce better documentation of same.
Our Philosophy
We believe that...
- Uncontrolled problems become dangerous problems.
- Dangerous problems become disastrous problems.
And that for every problem:
- An optimal solution can be developed and implemented.
- Optimal solutions are generated through conscious, informed, applied processes - they simply don't happen through chance, neglect or avoidance.
For issues-based problems:
- A proper analysis of the problem should include the systematic de-construction of its essential elements.
- All significant issues should be identified and explained before any evaluation takes place.
- Options for solving the problem / improving the situation should be generated through an expertly facilitated, option generation process.
- Solutions should be developed through a process of synthesis - bringing together information and ideas generated in earlier stages of the CONSEPS process, so they can be formed into a workable plan or outcome.
For relationship-based problems:
- A collaborative (interest-based) approach always produces a better result than an adversarial (conflict-based) approach.
- Conventional legal/professional responses may resolve issues, but they rarely cure underlying causes. Individual transactions can be settled, but ongoing relationships stay damaged.
- To achieve final closure you must address the problem's story, reasons and personal consequences. Positions, rights and obligations are just "surface-level" symptoms.
- "No" is usually negotiable - most situations can be improved through competent negotiation - you just need somewhere to start and a process that will carry you through to a satisfactory outcome.
- Many relationship-based problems end up carrying so much ego-investment and emotional baggage they can only be resolved with expert third party intervention - usually delivered through facilitation (problem solving) or mediation (conflict management and dispute resolution).
- When a relationship problem (business or personal) goes beyond the "point of no return" only a fool continues to try to solve it by him/her self.
For "impossible" problems:
- There is (almost!) no such thing. We will work with you to eliminate the impossible - what is then left must be "possible".
If you have a serious problem, where "serious" means anything from : "serious to you" (and the business / people / family you care about), to significant $$$$s, you should be talking to us.
Our Methodology - CONSEPS - A Four Stage Process
Long ago we discovered that every problem responds positively to a "simple", four stage problem solving process - provided each stage is undertaken with adequate rigour and skill.
Consequently, in our own assignment planning, we apply and model our own process. Each new job is treated as a problem that needs an optimal solution:
- Every brief receives the same intake (initial) treatment: people, problems, issues, interests and needs are carefully identified (stage #1) and assessed (stage #2). This is our problem analysis phase.
- Once we have this information we can confidently move into a design and option-generation phase (stage #3), which provides the basis for making wise decisions about optimal solutions (stage #4). Because the process is highly structured and tightly focused, it is about as quick and cost-effectively as is possible. We call this our solution synthesis phase.
We call the whole process: CONSEPS, which stands for: CONscious SEParate Stages - reflecting the fact that each stage is treated as a separate, sequential, intellectual exercise. Each subsequent stage can only be commenced after the previous stage has been completed (at least provisionally).
The first two stages deal with "present states" - the current situation - here and now. This is the analysis part of the process - a factual and methodical series of processes that involve gathering and evaluating information.
The second two stages deal with "future states" - what could happen in the future - the "possibilities". This is the synthesis part of the process - a series of creative and strategic processes designed to generate options for improvement and for making wise decisions that can be implemented as solutions.
Whatever the form and nature of our recommended problem solving process and actions, its implementation follows the CONSEPS path throughout. While the process stages are strictly applied, the model itself is almost infinitely flexible.
The CONSEPS methodology looks like this:
