Why People Come to Us…

Deciding About Mediation Services

Our clients usually come to us to discuss mediation services for one or both or two reasons:  prevention and intervention.  In some cases, our clients have found that disputes are occurring frequently in a particular area of operation and they are looking for the kind of policy, process, and training that can prevent disputes or identify and resolve them earlier.  In other cases, a dispute has already appeared and, for many reasons, they want it addressed and resolved quickly, in an atmosphere of mutual education and respect, and with maximum potential for restoring and building relationships rather than threatening or destroying them.

For individuals as well as for organizations, dealing with disputes can be very difficult since they often involve values, beliefs, and emotions in addition to policies, circumstances and facts.  Our mediation services clients report that placing disputes in the mediation context usually has the effect of reducing anxiety and tension levels, creating an empowerment among the people involved in the dispute as they seek to manage or resolve it together, and producing better solutions to which people are committed.

Here are a few questions that may help you decide if you need mediation services and why kind you may need:

• Is there a pattern of disputes or low level conflict that negatively affects performance or quality in any organizational area? 
• Is there a dispute brewing or already present?  Are the people involved able to discuss it with one another productively or not?  Does your gut tell you there's a chance the dispute might be settled if the people involved could sit and talk confidentially and could be assured that they would be heard?
• Is this a dispute that might escalate?  Could it result in a lawsuit, complaint, grievance, leadership challenge, or other serious disagreement?  If the people involved don't come to an agreement soon, will it move to a formal/higher level, costing time, money, and energy?
• Is there is any urgency?  Are people or their work and projects stalled?  Is the dispute causing loss of productivity, threatening increased costs and/or diverting attention away from important work?
• Does this dispute involve people who will have to continue to work or deal with each other?  If so, might a less argumentative and confrontational process be better for the future?  Is it important to avoid having a "winner" and "loser" and instead having a "win-win" outcome?
• Are there are good reasons to place the responsibility for resolving this dispute with the people involved, rather than turning things over to the legal process or to higher-ups in the organization?  Do the people involved have the most at stake and direct knowledge of the issues?  Will they respond to the opportunity for mutual exchange about their different perspectives, knowledge, roles, and needs?

Would the parties be more able to present their interests and positions and more comfortable exploring solutions with others if supported by a neutral person?