Guided Problem Solving (GPS)
GPS is a way for employees to resolve workplace conflict and issues that can arise between co-workers. Employees who choose GPS work with a trained, experienced problem-solving Guide who helps employees through steps designed to help them find their own solutions to the problems they experience with each other.
Why Use GPS?
- GPS is voluntary. You choose if you want to find a solution to the issues.
- GPS is confidential. The process and the resolution are not shared with others.
- GPS is self-determining. You and the other person decide the best outcome to the issues you have with each other. You choose how you’d like to resolve the problem.
What is the GPS Process?
There are two ways to begin. You and the other employee can make a joint request to start GPS, or you can make a request on your own. Your supervisor has to approve the request to miss work to attend a session.
Initiating GPS
The GPS Intake Coordinator will take some basic information about the kind of difficulties you are having, and will tell you if the problem is a good fit for GPS. If only one person has asked for GPS, the Intake Coordinator will ask the other employee if he or she would like to participate in GPS.
Once both of you have agreed to participate, the Intake Coordinator will work with you to select a Problem-Solving Guide. You can learn more about the specially trained Guides from a list. If both of you cannot agree on a Guide, the Intake Coordinator will choose one for you. The Guide will then schedule a resolution session for you both.
The Resolution Session
Before the session begins, it is a good idea to think about what is important to you, what the other person’s point of view might be, and what you are willing to do to resolve the situation.
The Guide will start the session by asking you to sign an agreement that covers the key parts of the process and its outcomes. The Guide will want each of you to explain what has happened from your own perspective. The Guide works with you to outline the issues and will start helping you resolve the problem with solutions you both design.
Who are the Guides?
The Problem-Solving Guides are MPS employees or retirees who have received special training in conflict resolution and problem solving. They will help you identify your concerns, think of possible solutions, negotiate with each other, and work towards a solution you both can live with. The Guides come from different regions and occupations within MPS.
Finding Resolution
You can go to one GPS session for up to three hours each year. If you reach a resolution, there will be a written agreement so that both of you know what you’ve agreed to do. Since this process looks to the future, remedies like monetary settlements for past wrongs are not available.
Three out of four people who use processes like GPS find a way to resolve their problems on their own.
More Information
If you have any questions, please contact:
Yashica Spears, EEO Compliance Specialist
Phone: (414) 475-8427
Fax: (414) 777-7587
Email: spearsyq@milwaukee.k12.wi.us