Bio
Laura C. Smythe, is Ombuds for University of Idaho. In addition, she is CEO of Communication Connections, LLC and works in that role as an Organizational Culture Diagnostician©. Smythe works with businesses and organizations to diagnose their culture and to mindfully work through a change plan to create a culture of transparent and responsible conflict management (including prevention of workplace bullying), ethical decision-making, ethical leadership and valuation of employees. In both roles she coaches leaders and offers many different types of training to develop organizational capacity about issues of conflict management, cultural competence and managing difficult and stressful situations and relationships. Her goal is to help leaders and all employees create organizational cultures in which respectful relationships and honest and transparent communication foster a synergistic and coherent environment with all employees working together collaboratively and constructively.
Smythe is an attorney, mediator, professor, coach, trainer and also a former Executive Director of a community mediation center and school administrator. She has mediated thousands of disputes and trained, coached and consulted with a wide variety of organizations in a myriad of industries throughout the country. Smythe has taught conflict management and conflict resolution skills to students of all ages from Kindergarten through Ph.D. candidates and to professionals at all levels from CEOs to interns for over 15 years.