Mediation: A 4-Step-Approach to Solving Any Conflict – Part 1

Learn why a successful leader needs to have excellent mediation skills

A mediator is a neutral and independent third party who acts as an intermediary in the pursuit of an alternative conflict resolution. Actually getting people to sit down is a first step in the right direction, but it takes all the finesse of a skilled mediator to get the parties to sign an agreement.

The Professional Business Mediator

The perfect impartiality of the mediator being a key element, it usually makes sense to bring in an outsider, somebody who is not privy to the internal workings and relationship dynamics of a company.

These are some of the advantages of conflict mediation:
– Fast (one day or even a few hours can be enough)
– Inexpensive (no legal fees, marginal loss of productivity)
– Voluntary (parties can leave the negotiation at any time)
– Confidential (unlike a trial which is public)
– Successful in over 80% of cases (UK Mediation Audit 2014)
– Win-Win solutions (there is no loser, since it is mutually agreed)
– Parties find their own solution (the mediator does just that – he mediates)

For more information, take a look at the website of the UK Mediation Audit.

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The Mediating Leader

However, in some cases a different scenario is possible: a company executive mediates a conflict between managers who are not particularly close to him. For example, the Global Sales and Marketing Directors of a large consumer goods company are at loggerheads over their personal interpretations of the corporate strategy for the South-East-Asian market. As a result the local teams get confusing information and send garbled messages to resellers and consumers. Sales drop and the entire organization will foot the bill for this costly personal conflict. If this is not properly handled, emotions will intensify and what started as low-level disagreements gradually progresses into all-out war. Here is when a leader can have a go at internal mediation:

– No ties with either party
– Sufficiently removed from the issues of the dispute
– Acceptance of the mediation role by both parties
– Basic training in business mediation completed
– Skills at active listening, asking open questions, and paraphrasing
– Strong sense of empathy
– High level of emotional intelligence
– Ability to be simultaneously involved and detached

Step 1 – Building Trust

The first thing a mediating leader should do is to get the parties to trust him as a reliable, neutral third party. To do this, he needs to greet each individual warmly and organize adequate seating arrangements in an agreeable setting. He then makes an opening statement, in which he calmly and clearly explains his role and the rules of mediation. A very important point at this stage is to reassure the parties that they will be treated equally, and that each will have ample time to express his views.

Tip: Do not hesitate to praise the parties for actually being in the room.

At first, as each party tells his or her side of the story, there will be expressions of animosity, referred to as “Theatrical Thunder” in mediator jargon. This is fine, as the mediator will get his first cues from the emotional data that he can collect during these outbursts. Once the parties have finished exposing their personal views of the conflict, the mediator paraphrases what each has said, as accurately as possible and taking all the time needed to do so. This allows each person to hear his own, but also the opposing party’s statement from another person, and it shows that they are being understood by the mediator.

To be continued…

About the author: Julian Jencquel is a Paris-based certified coach and business mediator with a long international experience in Europe and South America. He speaks five languages fluently and specializes in conflicts that originate in multinational corporations. He is the founder of Jencquel Consulting, www.jencquelconsulting.com. He has written the French eBook “L’intelligence émotionnelle en leadership“ for bookboon.com.

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