MEDIATION #249
SETTLEMENTS CAN BE ELUSIVE
Mediations depend on people, events + chemistry. The Mediator’s skills are all important + in the hands of the right mediator disputes can be pulled back from the brink. But not always.
Consider the older long standing Barratts + the younger relatively new Canons and suppose that they – the Canons – were unpleasant even insufferable who paid scant regard to the culture of the Village + its established long term traditions. Instead they look to join with other Townies + wrestle control of the Village from the Villagers. In this situation the Mediator would have been put to the test and all her training + skills would have been employed in an effort to change the mindset of the unattractive Canons.
The challenge to the Mediator would have been immense + the arguments that she did not need to bring into play in the above narrative – because the Canons were on the path to genuine good neighbourly relations with the Barratts – would have been given careful consideration. Focusing on reconciliation + encouraging the belligerent Canons to come in from the cold and become good neighbours would have been possible. The Mediator would have focused on common goals + interests, on convergent not divergent paths, and painted a picture going forward of harmony not discord. She may well have been successful because she would have been instinctively aware of how best to move a confrontational party into a position of positive thinking.
A mediator has to dig deep, think wide and look for the point of vulnerability in the intransigent make up of the stubborn + intractable party. Much can be done to move a difficult party from a focus on positions to a focus on interests. Think out of the box. Surprise yourself with the originality of your approach. A good mediator discovers depths in her/his own character that come into play to save a party or parties from their own stubborn + unattractive way/s.
BACK TO ARBITRATION – 29 JUNE 2022 + A DISPUTE OVER ARBITRATOR’S FEES. THEN A MEDIATION ARISING FROM TENSIONS WITHIN AN EXPANDING DENTAL PRACTICE. SEE 28/JUNE/2022 FOR MY OVERALL REVIEW
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