ADR is a general term encompassing various techniques for resolving conflict outside of the court system. Though the term technically includes arbitration, thi blog will focus mainly on mediation, facilitation and negotiation. So lets define each of these terms.
Simply put, in mediation, the people involved in a dispute get together with another person called a mediator or a neutral and try to figure out a solution to their problems on their own. The mediator is trained in helping people open up, overcome impasses and deal with emotion or sensitive issues. The mediator without getting involved personally by taking any sides and is bound by confidentiality rules. That means, any information divulged during the mediation cannot be used against another party if legal action were to occur in the future.
Facilitation is pretty much the same as mediation except that you are trying to resolve disputes among groups and not just individuals. Today we are seeing a growing trend among employers to have facilitation sessions with their employees even though there is no active ongoing conflict. It just gives people a chance to get together to share ideas, discuss differing opinions and clear the air regarding any concerns that may potentially lead to future conflict. In these sessions, the trained neutral is usually referred to as a facilitator.
Simply put, in mediation, the people involved in a dispute get together with another person called a mediator or a neutral and try to figure out a solution to their problems on their own. The mediator is trained in helping people open up, overcome impasses and deal with emotion or sensitive issues. The mediator without getting involved personally by taking any sides and is bound by confidentiality rules. That means, any information divulged during the mediation cannot be used against another party if legal action were to occur in the future.
Facilitation is pretty much the same as mediation except that you are trying to resolve disputes among groups and not just individuals. Today we are seeing a growing trend among employers to have facilitation sessions with their employees even though there is no active ongoing conflict. It just gives people a chance to get together to share ideas, discuss differing opinions and clear the air regarding any concerns that may potentially lead to future conflict. In these sessions, the trained neutral is usually referred to as a facilitator.
We all know what negotiation is i.e. differing parties getting together to come to an agreement without the help of any third parties like a mediator or a facilitator. One may ask why do we need mediators or facilitators when we all know how to negotiate?! After all, we: (i) got together with a dealer to buy or cars; (ii) we get together with our landlord to rent our homes; and (iii) we negotiated a raise and/or a promotion with our boss quite successfully on our own.
The answer is mediation and facilitation takes negotiation to an art. The techniques imparted ensures that the deal you end up with will make you happy in the end because the focus will be on meeting your most important interest. So, for example if your negotiation position is that you want an orange because you want orange juice, mediation and facilitation will teach you to let go of the negotiation position that 'i need an orange' to 'i want orange juice'. the former is simply a negotiation position while the latter is the interest or need you want fulfilled. As such, in a mediation you will be willing to relinquish the orange if the other party offers to simply give you orange juice without an orange.
This blog will also focus on the various types of mediation, facilitation and negotiation techniques and systems are appropriate for different situations, parties and organizations.
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