Mediation can take on many forms. But its most practical benefits are realized only when the process stays true to its simplest forms, to its roots: Mediation should always be voluntary, participants must always be reassured that what is said during mediation is confidential (especially in any subsequent proceedings), and the participants power of self-determination or the ability to fashion their own outcome should never be abridged. Another inherently satisfying aspect of mediation is the opportunity to tell one's story and actually have it be heard--for once. In today's busy environments, there is often little time for listening. Finally, mediators who are professional but understand that it is the participants themselves who retain the authority and the power to decide--give mediation its 85% success rate.
Today's markets find mediators in the guise of judges, arbitrators, attorneys, settlement officers, negotiators, ombudspersons, even advocates and psychological counselors. A particular forum or venue may twist or tweak the mediation process such that its basic tenets, voluntariness, confidentiality and mutual agreement or self-determination, become almost unrecognizable. In addition to those constraints, the added limitations of physical circumstances and rules and regulations that test the process, practitioners themselves are tested by the various new and inventive styles or philosophies brought to bear on the practice and process of mediation itself.
Thus it is incumbent on the end user to investigate the benefits of mediation as a cooperative problem solving tool and to be able to understand and identify the qualities in a company, program or individual that can best serve his or her particular goals. In short, know what mediation is, who is a good mediator, and let the buyer beware.
The prospective user will also be wise to realistically examine his or her expectations as well as desired outcomes. What is in the realm of possibility? Of course, the mediation process can allow much greater creativity (than other processes), increasing not only the possibilities for resolution but the level of satisfaction.
Users should look for a company, group or individual who has a wide range of training, education and experience. General practitioners in this writers opinion may actually provide a benefit greater than that of those who specialize or possess what is referred to in the industry as substantive expertise. Because they ask more questions (don't assume that everyone agrees on the meaning of the terms being used), mediators who are not well versed in a particular subject matter generally are able to better uncover problems involving miscommunication based in failure of the meeting of the minds--due to definitions of terms. Generalists are able to help the parties clarify important language or terminology, often wherein lies the crux of a conflict.
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