Dear ADRIO Members and Dispute Resolution (DR) Practitioners,
I trust that you are all enjoying this summer season!
It is with deep gratitude that thank all of you who were able to join us for our 40th Annual General Meeting of the ADR Institute of Ontario Inc, online and for those of you who were able to send in your proxy to ensure a successful AGM.
At the ADRIO AGM, I had the great privilege and pleasure to share the following highlights and milestones from the operations team from the past year:
- ADRIO’s Board of Directors developed and approved 3 strategic pillars for 2025-2027 and they are business development, retention and expansion, and strategic branding.
- ADRIO’s Board of Directors approved the strategic plan, and an operational plan for 3-years that will guide the work of the operational team, volunteers and stakeholders. The operational team has also created metrics to remain focused on the key deliverables over the next year.
The updates on each strategic pillar and operational goal are as follows:
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT:
✓ Full-scale implementation of P2E Program to support mentorship goals of members
- Since our last AGM, ADRIO launched a pilot program titled, “Pathways to Experience (P2E),” to connect DR students and new practitioners with experienced mediators. This pilot program supported those who were new to the DR field and seeking exposure and experience to jumpstart their career in a meaningful way.
- ADRIO successfully piloted and evaluated the Pathways to Experience (P2E) initiative.
- We held a conference session led by The Honourable Todd Archibald (Mentor) and Christine McKenzie (Mentee) to capture the highlights of the P2E program. The Speakers share the value it provided to someone entering the field of DR and the transfer of knowledge from one practitioner to the next to ensure our field has practitioners with expertise for many, many years to come.
- The next phase of the P2E program is taking place for summer 2025. I am happy to announce that we already have a waiting list for phase 2 of this program. If you are interested, please contact us for more information.
✓ Launched an ADRIO-owned ADR business development course to respond to member priority
✓ Environmental scan and contact prospects for 1 net-new revenue-generating partnership contract
- The groundwork has been laid to offer the ADRIC National Introductory Mediation Course as a pilot in Ontario as has been done successfully across Canada in other provinces that are part of the ADRIC.
- We hosted another successful professional conference that was sold out, featuring 12 sessions and 21 speakers highlighting the work that is being done across Dispute Resolution. Members shared with me directly that they have attended many conferences over the years and this by far has been the most meaningful! This feedback acknowledges and validates the high level of achievement that the ADRIO team strives for when planning and implementing education sessions and services for our members and members of the public to ensure that we are contributing to the dispute resolution field immensely.
RETENTION & EXPANSION:
✓ Launch organizational membership with 8 members registered over the next 3 years.
ADRIO has launched a desired organizational membership category recently and we have 2 new members that have signed up. Welcome to Kompass Professional Development and Dentons. This category unlocks a suite of branding and engagement of opportunities tailored to amplify organizational presence in the dispute resolution industry. This membership is valued at $3500 of benefits annually at a low introductory rate. Please contact me for more details.
✓ Achieve a 90% retention rate of our current membership
ADRIO has entered into a new agreement with a post-secondary institution to register all of their DR students for student membership at ADRIO. This offers a direct membership pathway to ADRIO to received support for their career development, further professional development, and designations from our strong, cohesive community.
ADRIO has received 97% of our membership target for 2025 thus far year. We are looking forward to welcoming new members into ADRIO to soar past our membership goals for 2025. As our membership community continues to grow, we all contribute to a stronger group of peacebuilders in Ontario. Thank you to all of you who have referred interested people to ADRIO for membership. We are always happy to share career pathways and resources with potential practitioners.
Member Opportunities & Benefits
To ensure that our members have a pulse on career and professional opportunities, ADRIO has:
- Connected members to over 200+ job opportunities via an opportunities board conveniently delivered right to your inbox, including opportunities for students and indigenous practitioners
Networking:
- This year we offered our 2nd Annual Spring Networking Mixer and saw an increase in participation all around. It was a great time for our strong, cohesive community to meet brand new practitioners, people interested in entering the field of dispute resolution, and catching up with seasoned practitioners as well. Also, as we hosted our annual PD conference, there were more valuable opportunities for networking connections to be made for people to explore mentorship opportunities and invest in their growth and development.
- As of January 2025, I host an Executive Director Virtual Drop In sessions every 2 weeks. ADRIO receives many requests to connect with new people exploring dispute resolution and members alike. I have piloted a new ED Virtual Drop In. It was such as success that I am currently offering it every 2 weeks for people to come together learn about the DR career pathway, membership and more about credentials. It is also a time for people to connect and network.
Strategic branding
✓ 15% annual increase in engagement in social media over the next 3 years. We have laid the ground work to create an impact tracker and are on track to meet the 5% increase in engagement for 2025.
✓ Build and maintain 6 collaborations in the areas of government, industry and association organizations
- In the first 6 months of 2025, our team has invested in the foundation to build and maintain 6 collaborations in the areas of government, industry and association organizations to ensure that we are collaborating and bringing awareness and connections to those organizations to ADRIO. There has been progress made specifically in the areas of collaborations with 4 organizations in total thus far in the area of industry and government organizations.
✓ Launch virtual road trip across Ontario (geographically focused) to promote ADRIO and ADR
- The first session was held virtually for the Ottawa and the next virtual roadshow was held in the Kitchener/Waterloo region at the end of June.
- Feedback received revealed 100% of survey respondents indicated that the virtual roadshow was worth their time.
- These will be geographically focused with the goal of promote ADR and ADRIO.
Thought Leadership:
- ADRIO hosted our AI Workshop for ADR Professionals. AI is here to stay and will grow, and it is important for each of us to learn more about how to implement relevant AI tools into our work in ADR.
- We want to thank all of the practitioners who have been instrumental in providing a diverse range of ADR practice in our sector as you have serviced your clients and have been profiled in the past year through numerous blogs or events that have contributed to our impact of thought leadership across Ontario.
I want to thank the previous ADRIO board of directors for using your gifts, talents and strengths to advance the strategic plan and provide governance leadership to ADRIO over the last year.
Congratulations to our newly elected Board of Directors! The ADRIO team looks forward to working with the newly appointed Executive committee: Jeff Donnelly (President), Sarah Albo (Vice-President), Jennifer Hyatt (Treasurer) and Drew Samuels (Secretary).
Our ADRIO staff team look forward to serving our membership and service users for an exciting 6 months ahead to end 2025 strong!
Sincerely,
Pramila Javaheri, C. Med. Q. Arb, WFA
Executive Director, ADR Institute of Ontario