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Why Is Mediation Important?

Why Is Mediation Important?

Have you struggled with conflict within your business, professional situations or with clients? Perhaps you’ve found yourself speaking or acting from an emotional standpoint rather than an objective and empowered place of conscious communication?

Meet Nadja Alexander: a multi-award winning author and educator, a mediator and an independent adviser to international bodies and national governments in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

She has been engaged in dispute resolution settings in more than 30 countries and joins podcast host Catherine Connolly to discuss the importance of good mediation: both professionally and personally.

“People often said, Oh, [mediation] it's for families or it's for neighbours - and they're important things. It was often said, ‘but it's not for business, right? It's not for hard-nose business?’ Interestingly, decades on we know that businesses save millions and millions or billions of dollars if they're able to negotiate problems, if they're able to mediate. You bring a mediator in when negotiations break down or get stuck….and you set up systems before they get to court.”

Nadja’s mediation practice comprises executive, workplace, commercial, intergovernmental, and cross-cultural conflict situations, offering conflict management design for industry groups and organisations and conflict coaching for individuals and teams.

So when and WHY is mediation an important next step? 

Mediation as most people understand is a procedure in which the parties involved discuss their conflicts with the assistance of a trained impartial third person - a mediator - who assists them in reaching a settlement.

According to Nadja, this can take a variety of different forms.

“People often said, Oh, [mediation] it's for families or it's for neighbours - and they're important things. It was often said, ‘but it's not for business, right? It's not for hard-nose business?’ Interestingly, decades on we know that businesses save millions and millions or billions of dollars if they're able to negotiate problems, if they're able to mediate. You bring a mediator in when negotiations break down or get stuck….and you set up systems before they get to court.”

“Many years ago I was asked to come in and conduct a mediation at a hospital. There was a dispute between multiple people and they all had critical roles in this hospital. The dispute was so acute that it was affecting the emergency room to the extent that people were dying. So it was absolutely critical. I came in as the mediator and I was immediately confronted with this resistance. They thought it was legalised……...It was formal…….. It would be documented on their records.

I talked about the fact that it was confidential and that it wouldn't be recorded.

I asked them what they were going to do about their problem and there was silence. 

So then I asked them if they'd like to talk it through and they nodded. They said, ‘Could you stay? We need someone to facilitate this meeting’, so I did. In my mind I was doing exactly what I would have done had I been mediating, but what was important for these people was that they felt comfortable with the process of what was happening in the room. 

Every single person listening to this podcast will say, Oh, yes, I know what mediation is. And every single person will have a different idea about Mediation, and all of those ideas will be right.”

So while every situation and experience during the mediation process is unique, the success of a mediation is largely based on the skills and expertise of an experienced mediator who can utilise strategies for creating a safe and open space for each party to present themselves and their information for discussion, while navigating the negotiation process in a fair and just way - something which develops through extensive training and experience.

“When you're mediating, but also when you're in conflict, the best way to problem solve your way out is to be curious. And even as a mediator, the advantage of being an outsider, is that you're in a better place to be able to be curious and to lead and model some of the behaviour while finding new neural pathways to address a problem or get out of a difficult situation in a different way.”

Key Takeaways:

• Cool down, calm down and take some time to think better.
• Curiosity and rapport building skills are essential key tools in the mediation process.
• Mediation is a professional skill and mediation is a life skill.  You can mediate at the kitchen table, you can mediate at the boardroom table and everywhere in between!
• Move positions of thought to be able to create solutions and be open to possibilities.
• Try utilising language which is meaningful and helpful.
• Listen deeply.

• Have you been experiencing disharmony or discord in your business?
• Are you open to transforming your current perspective and develop a more harmonious culture within your organisation and create more of a sense of inner calm?
• Do you need a physical reminder or trigger to remind you to consider ‘responding’ instead of ‘reacting’?

Explore your mind. Evolve your vision. Elevate yourself to success.

Useful Links

• Connect with Rex Urwin on LinkedIn
• Connect with Catherine Connolly on LinkedIn
• Get in touch

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