Tag Archives: IOA

NC State Faculty & Staff Ombuds Obtains Certification – Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner – CO-OP® 

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The International Ombudsman Association (IOA – uses the Swedish term “ombudsman” that includes all genders) supports the certification of organizational ombuds through its division – The Board of Certification for Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioners – CO-OP®. The requirements for certification include completion of a written exam that tests knowledge of conflict management and effective communication skills along with IOA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice among other topics. There is also an education requirement and work experience including office practices that follow IOA Ethics and Standards.

With this background, we are pleased to announce that Roy Baroff, the NC State Faculty & Staff Ombuds obtained Certification on June 8, 2017. Roy is now a Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner – CO-OP®. Roy scored a 499/500 on the exam (pretty good result!), met the educational and work experience requirements, participated in a one-on-one interview with a member of the Board of Certification to discuss ombuds practices, and was then approved by the full Board of Certification.

To maintain the CO-OP® certification, Roy must complete 60 hours of continuing education credits over the next four years. Obtaining certification now and with these future recertification requirements, Roy demonstrates his commitment to the field and best practices in his service as the NC State Faculty & Staff Ombuds.

Do you have an issue, concern, or conflict on your mind and you’re not sure where to turn?  The NC State Faculty & Staff Ombuds is confidential, independent, informal and impartial. Get a head start this summer on resolving your situation – don’t wait!  For all NC State Faculty and Staff, find out what Roy can do for you – call 919-935-0922.

International Ombudsman Association Annual Conference 2016

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I attended and presented at the IOA 2016 conference a couple of weeks ago in Seattle with over 400 attendees. There were several excellent keynote speeches including one by noted conflict resolution field author Bernie Mayer.

Mayer explained that dealing with conflict is all about dealing with paradox. His recent book – The Conflict Paradox – posits that our notions of separating concepts like Cooperation from Competition or Emotion from Logic may not be the most production approach. Instead, we should ask those in conflict to think and explore cooperation and competition or emotions and logic together in order to find common ground toward resolution. Mayer was an excellent speaker and I hope to incorporate some of his ideas into the NC State Faculty Ombuds Office.

Additionally, my session on “Opening an Ombuds Office – the NC State Faculty Ombuds Office” came as one of the opening concurrent sessions and was well attended with about 30 in number. Most had just finished three days of the IOA Foundations course and had many nuts-and-bolts questions about the workings of an ombuds office. My goal was to share the NC State Faculty Ombuds Office from start to its current status so that participants could take home ideas for their own offices.  Judging by the session questions and comments, I’ll deem the program a success!

See you next year at the IOA in Minneapolis!