The Department of Defense (DoD) Roster of Neutrals is a dedicated group of DoD employees who offer their expertise on a collateral duty basis to assist in resolving workplace disputes, providing essential neutral services (mediation and facilitation) at no cost to DoD organizations.

Mediators for the DoD Roster of Neutrals employ a facilitative model of mediation.  This type of mediation has been outlined by the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation and other experts in mediation. The mediators do not recommend or impose a decision, but instead encourage disputants to reach their own voluntary solution by exploring their own and the other party’s underlying interests. The mediator guides the process, and the parties commit to actively participate in that process with ideas and insights, with the aim of working towards the best possible mutually agreeable outcome possible.

In addition to mediating active administrative and legal disputes, the Roster also plays a vital role in early workplace conflict resolution as encouraged by DoD Instruction 5145.05 (May 27, 2016),  By engaging these facilitative neutral services early in workplace conflict situations, the Roster can facilitate a more rapid return to employee engagement and improved management practices, so that the Department avoids a hardening of conflict and escalation into costly and protracted legal disputes.  If the Roster includes neutrals trained in group facilitation, these services also can be leveraged to effectively move entire teams from conflict to improved organizational function.

Services from the Roster may be delivered through in-person sessions or by telephone. While at any given time Roster neutrals may be located around the globe, availability for in-person sessions varies by site.  In instances where a DoD Roster neutral is not accessible but a Component has identified clear value for in-person mediation as a preferred path to negotiated resolution, the Roster may collaborate with DoD Components or other federal agencies to identify a suitable neutral. Services from external organizations may incur costs to the requesting Component.