Once a year, the staff of Northern Community Mediation sets aside one day for a staff retreat. The purpose of this workshop is to review the past year and plan for the following year. The 2020 staff retreat was held on Friday, November 13 via Zoom. The following were the primary topics that were discussed:

• 2021 Calendar
• Two, four-hour advanced mediator trainings & one 40-hour, general civil training
• Two mediator round tables, one’s being a comparison of Australian, Canadian and American law
• Review of the fees for service
• Outreach and marketing
• Review of internal documents, such as succession plans, personnel policies, office procedures, forms
• Redistribution of responsibilities based upon the weighted caseload
• Review of proposed budget for 2021
• Review of job descriptions
• Analysis of impact of COVID-19 on caseload
• Review of office procedures

The 2021 staff retreat is scheduled for Friday, November 12. The beginning of the staff retreat will be held via Zoom so that the share-screen feature can be utilized for reviewing documents, developing the 2022 calendar and the like. The second half of the staff retreat will be in-person.