The IOA is teaming up with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution to produce two applied learning tracks that will take place on Wednesday, 15 April 2026, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM ET. These sessions will close out IOA’s Annual Conference and launch the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Spring Conference.  

Led by IOA President Jenn Mahony and ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Chair Liz Hill, this virtual event brings together experienced professionals from across the dispute resolution landscape.  

IOA is looking for members who have specific skills in the following areas to co-facilitate these sessions. We will select two facilitators/instructors - one for each track to work with the facilitator/instructor selected by the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. For those interested, please email [email protected] by Wednesday, 12 November. Please attach your CV/resume and detail your experience training in either area. Details about these sessions are below.  

Track A: Train the trainer:  Facilitating A Conflict Management Workshop with Impact

Who it’s for: Conflict management professionals at all levels who support others in building conflict management skills, including trainers, mentors, supervisors, and coaches.

What it covers:

• Strategies for effectively teaching conflict management theory and practice

• Inclusive and engaging approaches to adult learning

• Tools to design impactful learning experiences across settings

• Navigation of ethical challenges in workshop design and delivery

Format: Interactive, remote instruction, collaborative planning activities, and peer feedback

Timing: 3-hour workshop

What would they come out of the session with: 

• Tool kit for how to prepare a workshop on conflict theory or conflict management

• Templates for education planning (workshop flow and content)

• Best practices for delivering inclusive and engaging workshops (visual assets, activities, engagement—remote, hybrid, in-person)

• Frameworks for workshop outcome measures

• Addressing ethical issues around the use of AI and managing participant power imbalance

Learning objectives:

• Gaining a shared understanding of conflict theory and conflict management principles

• Acquire knowledge and skills of short-form workshop design

• Understanding and incorporating learning needs into workshop design:

• Cognitive—i.e., conflict theory, conflict management theory

• Affective—i.e., self-reflection on individual positionality and emotional response (how do I respond when I encounter conflict? What drives that response?)

• Psychomotor—i.e, simulate conflict management conversations

• Collaboratively building an effective, engaging, and inclusive workshop about conflict management (theory or practice)

• Exploring how to navigate ethical issues around use of AI and participant power imbalance 

• Understanding and incorporating outcome measures in workshop design: 

• Reaction (satisfaction with content and delivery); 

• Knowledge (ability to test actual concepts); 

• Behavior (intention to apply specific skills); 

• Impact (what changes)

Instructor education and experience requirements: 

• Educational/instructional design 

• Ombuds, mediation, group facilitation, or workshop facilitation 

• Conflict management theory and practice 

Instructor timeline and other logistics:

• Course will be co-taught by one IOA member and one ABA member

• All presenter info must be provided by 24 November 2025

• Content for course, including outlines, slides, and materials, must be provided to ABA and the IOA no later than 18 March  2026

Track B: Theory in Action. Deepening your skills for multi-party and organizational team disputes

Who it’s for: 

• Conflict management professionals with 5+ years of experience who want to gain new skills and hone existing expertise in helping groups navigate conflict, whether as part of a commercial multi-party dispute or as part of supporting teams and departments in organizational settings. Organizational ombuds, community mediators, family and estate mediators, commercial mediation and others will benefit from this program.

What it covers:

• Multi–party conflict theory

• Organizational design and human dynamics

• Intervention process design 

• Ethical challenges and difficult participant dynamics

Format: remote instruction. Interactive, reflective and collaborative exercises, theory-practice integration, and peer feedback

Timing: 3 hour workshop

What would they come out of the session with: 

• Understanding multi-party and organizational team conflict and common ethical issues:

• Managing participant power imbalance

• Confidentiality in multi-party and organizational team conflict

• Navigating discomfort versus trauma and harm

• Frameworks for examining multi-party and organizational team disputes

• Frameworks for planning multi-party and organizational team dispute intervention design

Learning objectives:

• Acquire knowledge of organizational design and human dynamics and common drivers of multi-party and organizational team conflict

• Practice designing multi-party and organizational team conflict interventions while gaining frameworks for how to examine conflicts and plan intervention 

• Exploring how to navigate ethical issues in multi-party and organizational team conflict interventions 

Instructor education and experience requirements: 

• Organizational development and design 

• Multi-party and/or organizational team conflict theory analysis 

• Advanced ombuds or mediation experience with multi-party disputes

• Conflict management theory and practice 

• Comfort with an experiential/simulation education approach that can include using a common fact pattern to navigate difficult design and delivery of multi-party and organizational team dispute intervention

Instructor timeline and other logistics:

• Course will be co-taught by one IOA member and one ABA DR member

• All presenter info must be provided by 24 November 2025

• Content for course, including outlines, slides, and materials, must be provided to IOA and the ABA no later than 18 March  2026