Melissa Brodrick and Justin Neiman. Image: Ombuds Office
Just steps away from the three schools it serves, the Ombuds Office for HMS, HSDM and the Harvard Chan School is housed in an brick building at 164 Longwood Ave., practically hiding in plain sight from the daily throng of Longwood passersby.
Ombudsperson Melissa Brodrick says the location perfectly reflects everything the office represents: an informal, independent space, tucked away, allowing its visitors to slip in and out discreetly.
The Ombuds Office was established in 1991 with the support of the HMS Joint Committee on the Status of Women with specific focus on the prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination. The scope of the office has grown since then to address any concerns impacting one’s work or academics, including career management, research, communication, fair treatment, professional conduct and discrimination.
Last year the Ombuds Office worked with 443 visitors, managing 718 issues brought by students, staff, faculty, trainees and residents from the LMA schools as well as by those with Harvard appointments at the affiliate institutions.
For nearly 10 years, Brodrick has worked as a solo ombudsperson, serving three complex institutions with a burgeoning caseload. She and Ombuds Office Coordinator Robin Cheung, who has been with the office since 2008, were excited to welcome Justin Neiman this past January as the LMA’s first associate ombudsperson.
MyHMS sat down with Brodrick and Neiman for a conversation about the work of conflict resolution and their future plans now that they can expand the scope of their work.
What is an ombudsperson?
According to Merriam-Webster, ombudsman was borrowed from Swedish, where it means "representative," and ultimately derives from the Old Norse words umboth ("commission") and mathr ("man"). The term initially referred to a government official appointed to receive, investigate and help settle complaints made by individuals against abuses or capricious acts of public officials.
First used in English in the late 1950s, the term organizational ombudsman or, much later, ombudsperson, has been used to refer to one who holds to standards of confidentiality, independence, neutrality and informality and helps visitors consider their issues, goals and options in order to make their own decisions about next steps.
Melissa, what was your journey to work as an ombudsperson?
MB: While I was attending the Ed School (Harvard Graduate School of Education), I took a variety of courses at the Kennedy School, such as labor relations and negotiation skills.
I then trained as a mediator.
Through my volunteer efforts, I got a job as a special education mediator, moved into running a parent-teen mediation program and finally to running a statewide association of mediation programs and practitioners. All the while, I had a private practice doing mediation, training, facilitation and coaching.
After 12 years on my own, I was ready to get back into an organization. When this job came up, it felt like a very good fit for me. All of my experience and the skills I had worked to develop over the years fell under the umbrella of an ombudsperson.
Justin, what was your path to your current role?
JN: I am coming to HMS from Stanford University, where I was working as an assistant dean and teaching courses on leadership and interpersonal learning. I have worked in academic, corporate and nonprofit sectors, but the one theme that has been consistent throughout my career has been a desire to help people find creative solutions to problems. The ombuds role allows me to connect with people individually, but also to be a resource at the organizational level.
What would you say are the hallmarks of a successful ombudsperson?
MB: Confidentiality, independence and informality. I think we try to personify those. Impartiality is equally important. There are 16 sides to a story, but we want to be able to sit with people, not pass judgment and provide an appropriate level of support.
JN: Being a good listener is …
MB: Huge!
JN: A lot of the work we do is listening and being a sounding board. Being very present is essential.
MB: We're also cheerleaders for those coming to us feeling disempowered. We need to help those people look at a situation differently and realize that they have options to help themselves get unstuck.
JN: We often say that we're here to help a visitor do their best thinking about their options. We don’t give advice.
MB: No, we’re not going to fix it for you, but we’ll help you think it through—What’s going on? What are your goals? What options and resources might be helpful? The decisions you make regarding next steps are your own.
Who can access the services of the Ombuds Office?
JN: Anyone from the three schools—students, staff, faculty, trainees and anyone with an appointment at the affiliate hospitals—can come talk to us about any issue that's affecting their academic or work environment.
What are some of the services provided by your office?
MB: We offer informal mediation, either face-to-face or in groups; shuttle diplomacy when geography or very high conflict is a factor; and we do a lot of conflict coaching, helping people identify issues and think broadly about the path ahead.
We do everything we can to schedule visitors to come in no more than 3 to 4 days from the time of their request. We schedule follow-up meetings, when needed, in a similarly timely way.
In general, information shared with us will not be disclosed without the visitor’s permission unless we determine there might be an imminent risk of serious harm.
We don't keep records, except for general demographic information. Once a visitor’s work is done with us, you won’t find anything in our office with their name on it or identifying them as having come in.
JN: We also do about 50 trainings and workshops a year throughout the community on conflict resolution, negotiation skills, authorship, addressing harassment in the workplace and best practices for mentors, to name just a few. Last year 1,650 people attended our sessions.
It seems that the Ombuds Office would have the pulse on concerns in the community at large. Are you able to share high-level information with school leadership about what you’re seeing and hearing?
MB: If a group wants someone to know they are having significant problems with, let’s say a supervisor, we can help them bring it to leadership. With explicit permission, we can bring the information forward on their behalf to HR, a dean, the supervisor’s supervisor or someone else.
We also provide an annual report to the deans of the three schools. This allows us to share any hotspots or recurring issues we are seeing. We can help leadership think through systemic ways to address issues or bring together the right people to investigate and address the concerns more fully.
What are the advantages of having an associate ombudsperson join your office?
MB: There’s been a huge caseload for a number of years. As the only ombuds serving a community of over 20,000 people, I couldn’t do as much outreach as I wanted to, particularly to our students. Students here have a lot of support services, but I’ve been feeling for years that we could enhance our services with a larger team.
It’s exciting to me that Justin comes with experience working closely with students and a background in diversity and inclusion and Title IX issues.
What’s ahead for this team?
MB: For one, we’re talking about developing new trainings, and taking a look at what Justin sees with fresh eyes, think about what we can do to best address visitors’ needs.
JN: I want people to be more familiar with our office and know what a fantastic resource we are for the entire community. I'm particularly interested in getting more visibility with the student and postdoc populations. These communities are often faced with many early-career obstacles, and the Ombuds Office can be a great resource for navigating some of these challenges.
Learn more about the services and resources provided by the Ombuds Office.
