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About Shiv Martin

Trusted guidance for high-stakes conflict.

Restoring psychological safety, rebuilding trust, and delivering practical traction for complex organisations.

When leadership teams fracture, or systemic grievances threaten organisational stability, you do not just need a mediator. You need a partner who understands the architecture of workplace dynamics, legal frameworks, and human psychology. Shiv helps public sector and corporate leaders navigate the wilderness of conflict and find a sustainable path forward.

Explore my methodology

Trusted for discreet, high-stakes matters across government, not-for-profit, and corporate settings.

Shiv Martin, Workplace Conflict Resolution Expert and Mediator, smiling professionally in a modern architectural setting.

What clients need most

Clarity

A precise read on what is really driving the conflict.

Safety

A process that lowers harm while difficult truths surface.

Traction

Outcomes that hold after the meeting ends.

Trusted by

Australian Public ServiceNSW GovernmentVictorian GovernmentQueensland GovernmentNational Not-for-Profits

Philosophy

Conflict is not a failure. It is a fracture waiting to be reset.

"People cannot resolve complex disputes if they do not feel safe. The first intervention is not control. It is the design of a container strong enough to hold the truth."

For over two decades, Shiv Martin has walked into rooms where trust has completely broken down. In government agencies, national not-for-profits, and corporate boardrooms, the symptoms are often painfully consistent: talented people are leaving, productivity is paralysed, and the risk of reputational damage is climbing by the day.

Many interventions fail because they treat only the visible argument. They focus on the immediate clash without addressing the wider system that made the dispute possible. Some apply a rigid, compliance-led approach that forces short-term movement but leaves fear untouched. Others try to rescue one party at the expense of another. Neither creates durable peace.

Shiv's philosophy is different. She brings rigorous systemic thinking together with genuine compassion and trauma-informed care. That combination matters, because intellect without safety can entrench defensiveness, while empathy without structure can leave organisations circling the same pain without progress.

Her role is to architect safety. That means creating the conditions where difficult truths can be spoken, root causes can be named, and sustainable agreements can be forged. The aim is not simply to stop the fighting. It is to rebuild the capacity to collaborate.

Deep background and expertise

20+ years of navigating the complex.

Shiv's journey into conflict resolution was not born out of theory alone, but from practical work in some of Australia's most regulated, scrutinised, and politically sensitive environments.

20+

years navigating high-stakes workplace conflict

3

core disciplines: mediation, facilitation, and systems consulting

Day one

public-sector readiness across probity, policy, and stakeholder risk

The foundation in law and systems

Shiv's early career was grounded in legal frameworks and organisational systems. She learned quickly that policy defines the boundary, but it does not create healing. In complex workplace disputes, especially within the public sector, the architecture matters: enterprise agreements, union involvement, governance, probity expectations, and public scrutiny all shape what is possible. Years of working at that intersection developed the analytical discipline that still underpins every intervention.

The shift to psychological safety

A turning point came when Shiv integrated trauma-informed methodologies into her practice. She saw that logic and policy become blunt instruments when people are in fight-or-flight mode. Advanced work in psychological safety, cultural competency, and trauma-informed care sharpened a second lens: the capacity to help people stay present enough to do the hard work of resolution.

Public sector ready from day one

Today, Shiv is trusted by Australian Public Service bodies, state departments across NSW, Victoria, and Queensland, and major local government organisations. She is brought in when an executive team is paralysed by infighting, when a bullying culture has become systemic, or when a grievance threatens to tip into a public crisis. She understands the nuances of transparency, stakeholder management, and reputational risk from the outset.

Methodology

How the work moves from chaos to clarity.

Every engagement is tailored to the organisation and the stakes, but Shiv's underlying methodology relies on three non-negotiable pillars that shape diagnosis, process design, and follow-through.

Rigour and diagnosis

We never prescribe a solution without a thorough diagnosis. Every engagement begins with a close reading of the visible dispute and the hidden dynamics underneath it. We look at policy settings, organisational history, decision rights, power structures, and prior attempts to resolve the issue so the intervention is grounded before any room is convened.

Psychological safety

Resolution requires vulnerability, and vulnerability requires safety. Shiv uses trauma-informed and culturally responsive processes that let people participate without being re-injured by the process itself. Clear expectations, confidential preparation, and careful pacing reduce escalation and create the conditions for candour.

Practical traction

A successful mediation is not simply a signed agreement. The work must change behaviour, restore working rhythm, and reduce the likelihood of recurrence. Shiv focuses on agreements that hold after the room closes, capability that stays inside the organisation, and recommendations that strengthen the wider system.

Case studies

The proof is in the progress.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of Shiv's work, client confidentiality is paramount. These anonymised examples show the kinds of complex, high-consequence matters she navigates.

Confidentiality first

Scenarios are anonymised carefully so the focus stays on the intervention logic and the outcomes rather than the identity of the parties involved.

Typical tipping points

  • Executive relationships that have hardened into organisational blockage
  • Grievance patterns that reveal a deeper systems issue
  • Teams needing a structured path back to collaboration
Resolution work earns trust when the room feels safe enough for candour and structured enough for progress.

These scenarios illustrate how Shiv combines diagnostic rigour, psychological safety, and practical traction across public sector, not-for-profit, and corporate environments.

Case study 1State Government Agency

The Entrenched Executive Team

The situation

A critical state government agency had drifted into paralysis. Two senior executives had been locked in covert conflict for 18 months, creating siloed teams, rising attrition, and stalled strategic initiatives despite multiple HR interventions.

The intervention

Shiv began with confidential pre-mediation sessions to stabilise the environment and restore enough safety for meaningful participation. The diagnostic phase revealed that the dispute was not driven by personal animosity alone, but by a deep mismatch in risk appetite, role ambiguity, and pressure around resource allocation.

The outcome

Across a structured three-week process, the executives moved from defensive positioning to collaborative design. They co-authored a new operating charter with clearer boundaries, escalation pathways, and decision protocols. Within six months, team retention stabilised and delayed priorities resumed.

Case study 2National Not-for-Profit

Systemic Grievance Culture

The situation

A national not-for-profit was experiencing a sharp increase in formal grievances inside one regional office. Policies were being used as weapons, trust between staff and management had collapsed, and every issue was escalating immediately into a formal process.

The intervention

Rather than treat each grievance as an isolated dispute, Shiv conducted a systemic review. Safe-space listening circles with staff and leadership surfaced the unresolved trauma of an earlier restructuring process that had left the office vigilant, fragmented, and deeply distrustful.

The outcome

Shiv designed a restorative grievance pathway that prioritised early resolution, clearer communication, and trauma-informed de-escalation. After capability building with HR and line managers, formal grievances dropped significantly over the following year and confidence in leadership improved.

Case study 3Corporate Sector

The Boardroom Breakdown

The situation

Founding partners in a fast-scaling corporate firm had reached an impasse over the future direction of the business. The conflict was beginning to threaten a major merger and was spilling into leadership behaviour across the company.

The intervention

Shiv facilitated an intensive alignment process that separated emotion from strategy without minimising either. The work returned the conversation to their shared original intent, then used structured evaluation to weigh options under pressure without collapsing into blame.

The outcome

The partners reached a workable consensus on merger terms, preserved the commercial opportunity, and protected the relationship that the firm itself depended on. The result was not only a deal, but renewed executive coherence.

Diagnostic tool

Assess your organisational conflict risk.

Are you dealing with a contained disagreement or a deeper structural fracture? Before choosing a course of action, it helps to understand the likely cost, spread, and pressure inside the system.

Elevated conflict risk

There are early signs that the conflict is affecting performance, confidence, or leadership bandwidth. This is an ideal point to intervene before positions harden further.

Conflict cost calculator

Indicative inputs for triaging the scale of the issue.

Estimated cost impact

Indicative annualised cost based on leadership time, grievance load, morale drag, and spread across affected leaders.

Potential annual cost

Unlock to view full result

This figure is designed as a directional decision-making tool rather than a formal audit. It helps show how quickly unresolved conflict compounds operational cost.

Email to unlock

Enter your email address to reveal the estimated cost impact and send yourself the breakdown for later review.

Engage me

Ready to restore harmony? Let's find the right pathway.

Whether you are managing a crisis now or looking to build long-term capability, Shiv offers a structured next step that matches the realities of your environment.

I have a complex dispute that needs resolving.

Get a structured resolution pathway that protects your people and your organisation. Shiv reviews every enquiry personally and guides the first step with clarity and discretion.

I want to build conflict resolution capability.

Equip your leaders with trauma-informed, evidence-based skills that hold under pressure. Explore public events, in-house workshops, and capability-building pathways.