In episode 275, Coffey talks with Amy McDowell and Sasha Vaikhman about resolving workplace conflict before it grows into a complaint, a resignation, or a lawsuit.

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They discuss why workplace conflicts escalate when managers and HR avoid difficult conversations; how facilitated workplace conflict resolution differs from legal mediation and arbitration; when complaints involving harassment or discrimination belong with legal counsel instead of a facilitated conversation; how employers in Europe and Asia already use neutral facilitators to get ahead of employee disputes; running separate one-on-ones that let employees vent, feel heard, and see the impact on their team; the forward-looking question that turns a joint session into brainstorming instead of relitigating the past; modeling active listening and gently redirecting “always” and “never” language; why voluntary participation and employee buy-in drive lasting results; drafting a written agreement with specific, measurable behavioral commitments the employees create themselves; scheduling 30-day follow-ups and deciding upfront whether broken commitments carry consequences; how a documented reset supports progressive discipline without limiting the employer’s right to manage performance; what to do when the process ends in an impasse; and prioritizing facilitated resets for high-value, hard-to-replace employees so HR doesn’t become a full-time referee.

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About Amy McDowell & Sasha Vaikhman

Amy S. McDowell and Sasha Vaikhman are the co-founders of Inquiring Minds, a Houston practice providing workplace investigations, early employee conflict resolution, and HR training. Between them they have practiced more than 50 years as employment lawyers, much of it in-house in the energy sector – Amy at what was once Marathon Oil (now ConocoPhillips), and Sasha at Grizzly. Both are past Presidents of the American Petroleum Labor Lawyers Association (APLLA).

Amy has spent over 25 years on sensitive workplace matters, from two-person disputes to large-scale investigations, and employers rely on her for findings that are thorough, fair, and defensible. Sasha brings nearly 25 years of legal experience, the last three of them in independent practice as a workplace investigator, alongside her separate litigation mediation practice at MediationMaven.com. The combination lets her approach conflict with rigor and empathy both.

Together they’re a good balance. Amy is a soft-spoken diplomat; Sasha is tenacious, with an infectious laugh. Their company mascot is an octopus, because the octopus is a brilliant and creative problem solver (and modest). They don’t take themselves too seriously – just the work.