THE BASICS: Why Everyone Chooses Mediation, Facilitation and Negotiation

Quick recap:

Negotiation involves two or more parties getting together to come to an agreement regarding an issue they are facing without the help of any third parties like a mediator or a facilitator.


Mediation, is like negotiation except it involves the use of a third party neutral called a mediator.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. 

Facilitation is like much the same as mediation except that it involves resolving issues among groups and not individuals.  In this instance the third party neutral (similar to a mediator) is called a facilitator.

So why do you need to know anything about mediation? Well, quite frankly, because many organizations - including the courts - are using it to resolve disputes.  You may call the police or take your case to court to try to find a solution.  But, in many cases these days, they first refer you to mediation.  Though you are not compelled to find a solution during mediation, understanding the "lay of the land" and how you can capitalize on it is always a good idea.

So, what are some of the major benefits of mediation and facilitation? Why are they growing in popularity among business, academic, government and legal institutions? If you look at most mediation websites, you will see answers like: 

1. It is an extremely cost effective method of merging interests and resolving differences.
2.  It is a relatively quick process (especially when compared to going to court).
3. It gives you the opportunity to craft a resolution that is right for you (instead of having one imposed on you by a third party like a judge).
4. It allowes for creative, informal, "outside the box" approach to problem solving.
5. It gives you a chance to avoid the stressful, drawn-out and extremely expensive litigation process.
6. It is a process that focuses on meeting the main interests of all the parties; so, in effect, everybody wins and nobody loses.
7. It allows you to maintain existing business or personal relationships while merging your interests or differences.

These reasons are all true.  However, the most important reason is that mediation and facilitation don't just focus on the specifics of the conflict in front of them.  They also look to the parties who are in conflict and ask the question: " Why are the positions taken by each side so important to them?" In answering this question, the look to the underlying concerns shown in the circle of conflict chart below.  These includes the parties values, relationships, externals/moods, interests, structure and data.  

We'll look at these things in more detail in succeeding blog posts.   But for now, it is important to note that a skilled mediator/facilitator is not there to tell people how to solve their problems.  But by taking the time to understand the underlying concerns in the circle of conflict chart above, he/she is able to help the parties focus on solutions that that they believe will best fit these needs. So, at the end, when they finally craft a resolution, the parties are more willing to stick to it because they 

THE BASICS SERIES: ADR = Mediation, Facilitation and Negotiation

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.

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.