What do you believe the real benefits of independent workplace mediation are for individuals and groups in conflict and for organizations themselves?
Conflict in the workplace is nothing new, we've all seen it or been effected by it at some time in our working lives. The impact it has on the individuals concerned can be obvious but is less so for those indirectly effected. Intuitively, there will be a negative impact on the organizations performance since attention is diverted away from 'the day job'.
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Cathy P.
Pres. of Powerful Purpose Leadership - Find Your Power, Fulfill Your Purpose
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Paul:
As a certified mediator, I have seen first-hand the powerfulness of the mediation process. Mediation gives participants the opportunity to practice constructive responses to conflict within the "safety" of the process and structure. Participants are amazed to learn that once they are able to assertively communicate their feelings and thoughts, their desire to hold on to old positions falls away. By being a part of a mediation process, participants can take what they learned into future conflict situations.
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Robb P.
Coach | Trainer | Counselor | and LinkedIn Speaker
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Paul,
I believe the core benefit of mediation is maintenance of the working relationship. All to often conflict results in the severing of relational ties, which does not benefit either party. If the relationship can be maintained and even restored through mediation both sides come out ahead. Reducing the overall tension in the workplace resulting in greater productivity.
Best regards,
Robb Pardee
It's the old adage of short term pain for long term gain in my eyes. Yes, you're shifting focus from the day to day while dealing with the conflict, but if done correctly, repaired relationships can mean improved productivity and bottom line results when the return to the day job occurs.
The important thing is to bring all those affected by the conflict into the mix so that all underlying issues are dealt with. We have a great tool under the umbrella of alternative dispute resolution that isn't really considered mediation but achieves extremely successful results. You can read more about it here: http://www.proactive-resolutions.com/products/incidentmgmt/tja_conferencing.html
This process has been used in precedent setting case law in Australia.
All of this is to say that mediation or any valid form of alternative dispute resolution, when used appropriately, can solve issues for all involved, whether directly or indirectly. In the short term it involves a shift of focus but over the long term can mean better results for your business.
Hamish T.
Global Strategic Business Development
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Paul
I believe that is important that organisations implement programmes whereby employees at all levels are able to engage in a "mediated dialogue" programme within the organisation and before conflict gets to the stage of demanding external mediation to pull the pieces back together again.
I work with partners at The Center for Creative Leadership using their Visual Explorer and Leadership Metaphor Explorer tools to facilitate mediated dialogue with my consultancy clients and in not-for-profit organisations.
Find out more at the links...
Regards
Hamish.
