Dr David Cliff explores the value of mediation in business, looking not just at the bottom line, but to the long-term relationships that add to the culture of an organisation.
Mediations are a bit like buses. It is as if there’s a conscious collective that foments over time and the cumulative woes of different organisations visit the Gedanken office all at the same time. It can be weeks before we are approached to discuss a mediation and then three or four matters come in on the same day!
At Gedanken, our non-legal approaches to mediation are often welcomed by companies as they focus on the fundamental issue behind disputes in organisations. Namely, the relational space that exists between people, including, how they interact and how they add value or add risk to a company’s activities. The relational environment in the workspace determines the culture of an organisation. The two are reciprocal.
Mediations often come about as a result of simple human factors. Excessive stress, unrealistic expectations, failure to calibrate one’s expectations against those of one’s colleagues, and yes, that old chestnut, poor and/or insensitive leadership that is focused on expediencies rather than the fact that organisations are human systems.
At Gedanken we have a simple approach to mediation. It’s not about the righteousness of one party’s position over another, it is about the fact that there is no one reality. This is something academics refer to as “ontology”. We in fact construct our sense of reality from the multiple values, ideological positions, learning experiences and value driven perspectives we as individuals have acquired through life. We therefore can each experience a reality very differently and from that many differences of view can occur. Normally these differences form part of the diversity and interest of life, and indeed can productively add to the culture of an organisation. When unaddressed and their maintenance neglected however, these differences can easily lead into disputes that result in people becoming less than their “highest selves” in terms of performance, collegiate relationships, and awareness of others. Frankly sometimes it can look more like “pistols at dawn”!
The financial case for mediation is well documented. A plethora of studies indicate the potential for resolution via mediation processes being as good as fifty to seventy percent of cases.
Similarly, cost savings typically range from fifty to eighty percent of formal legal processes. Less well quantified but at least as important, are the significant savings created in terms of time and workplace disruption. Unaddressed conflicts can also have the potential to create a systemic impact across an entire workforce, impacting upon morale, staff retention and productivity. This is particularly true in mediations that involve members of organisations who have particularly fine honed, difficult to replace skills, or their knowledge and aptitudes are particularly rare.
Any good mediation looks less to the likely political and organisational outcomes of a dispute, although these often cannot be ignored. Primarily however, it needs to focus on the fact that most disputes involve important business relationships that have gone off track and can be reworked to continue to be productive, honouring all of the parties concerned, if indeed ultimately, differences have to be respected far more attentively than hitherto.
It is a necessarily disciplined and “boundaried” process that focuses primarily on the safety of the individuals and the preparedness to find ways forward. It needs the preparedness and commitment of the parties to work towards a solution that is satisfactory for all.
Non-legal mediation differs from legal mediation in that it does not keep at the forefront of its mind the potential legal outcomes that are incentivising the parties to reach settlement. It ideally should occur before lawyers become involved. It instead looks to a far more intrinsic relational outcome that will be more satisfying for the parties in the long-term.
Anyone wanting to discuss a specific mediation issue or the value of mediation to their company, need only give us a ring of drop an email to actnow@gedanken.co.uk and we’ll be happy to explore these and offer some initial guidance.
www.gedanken.co.uk