Why mediation?

What is mediation?

Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process in which a neutral third party (the mediator) helps to resolve a dispute between two or more people. Instead of a punitive nature, common to some formal disciplinary procedures, mediation is all about collaboration, focusing on helping the people involved entering a dialogue to be able to find a solution. It is not about who is right or wrong. And the mediator does not impose a decision. Rather, the mediator facilitates the conversations and communication involved, helping the parties seeing and understanding each other's perspectives.

Advantages of mediation

Conflict and disputes can trigger emotions that are difficult to process. Such emotions impact our ability to solve problems. This can become challenging in our lives (for example, in workplace environments, where people often need to continue working together).

However, with adequate support, conflict and disputes can become an open door for strengthening and redesigning relationships. Because mediation is a collaborative process rather than adversarial, it encourages open communication and mutual understanding. These are valuable elements particularly in a workplace setting, where cooperation between people is vital to both the success of the organisation/corporation and the wellbeing of the people involved in the dispute.

Being a collaborative process and allowing for open communication, mediation allows for individuals to explain their points of view, fostering empathy. Moreover, allowing for the individuals involved to find tailored and creative solutions to their own problems, mediation offers control of the situation to the individuals involved, co-powering them.

Mediation can also be more time and cost-effective when compared to formal grievance procedures or legal action, which can be time-consuming and expensive. Being a flexible and tailored process, mediation can be arranged and concluded in a matter or days or week.

Finally, by encouraging individuals to practice active listening and empathy, mediation has the potential of motivating people to relate to each other in a more respectful and empathetic manner in a longer term.

What issues can be resolved through mediation?

Common conflicts addressed by mediation include personal or neighbours' conflicts, but also interpersonal conflicts between colleagues, disputes between management and staff and team conflicts affecting productivity. This includes situations such as misunderstandings, relationship breakdowns, challenges related to communication, and allegations of harassment (including bullying), sexual harassment and discrimination.