“There’s no way we’re going to be able to pay this bill.” “We regret buying the new computer system in the first place,” Jeremy admits to the mediator. In caucuses with both sides of the IT training debate, the mediator learns that the printing company is in financial distress. The promise of confidentiality can encourage disputants to share new information about their interests and concerns. Often, but not always, the mediator tells each side that the information they share in caucus will remain confidential. If emotions run high during a joint session, the mediator might split the two sides into separate rooms for private meetings, or caucuses. “Your people didn’t do a good job of understanding who they were working with,” Jeremy counters. “In fact, it’s all the more reason that you should pay in full, if you admit the problem lies with you, not with our training.” “That’s no excuse for not paying your bill,” you say. In response to the mediator’s questions, Jeremy, the printing company’s representative, admits that organizational morale has been low due to recent layoffs. If parties reach an impasse, mediators diagnose the obstacles that lie in their path and work to get the discussion back on track.ĭuring this stage, the mediator in our negotiation example above attempts to understand why the two sides have such different views of how training went.
#MEDIATOR 9 TUTORIAL FREE#
Their low motivation is not our problem.”Īfter each side presents its opening remarks, the mediator and the disputants are free to ask questions with the goal of arriving at a better understanding of each party’s needs and concerns.īecause disputing sides often have difficulty listening to each other, mediators act like translators, repeating back what they have heard and asking for clarification when necessary. “And in any case, a lot of your employees slacked off during the initial training. “I’m sure we discussed this over the phone at some point,” you say. You explain that your contract clearly states that work conducted beyond the initial training session is subject to your usual rates. “Since your training obviously didn’t work,” he says to you and your team, “I don’t understand how you could charge us for the work you failed to do in the first place. Suppose that the spokesperson for the printing company begins by discussing how shocked he waste be presented with a bill for the additional consulting work.
In addition to describing the issues they believe are at stake, they may also take time to vent their feelings. She also presents her goal for the mediation process: to help the parties come to a negotiated agreement on the issue of a disputed consulting fee and to resolve the business relationship amicably.įollowing the mediator’s introduction, each side has the opportunity to present its view of the dispute without interruption. With the parties gathered together in the same room, Kathy, the mediator, introduces the participants, outlines the mediation process, and lays out ground rules. Two managers and a lawyer also makeup the printing company’s team. As a senior manager of the consulting firm, you bring along a colleague and a lawyer. Three-person teams from the two companies meet at the mediator’s office. (Increasingly, retired judges are starting new careers as mediators.) Imagine a consulting firm and a printing company have decided to hire a former judge with about 10years of experience as a mediator.
#MEDIATOR 9 TUTORIAL HOW TO#
Claim your FREE copy: Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiationsĭownload this FREE special report, Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations: Top Techniques from Mediation Training Experts to discover mediation techniques for selecting the right mediator, understand the mediation process and learn how to engage the mediator to ensure a good outcome from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.Įach side might have lawyers, co-workers, and/or family members on their team, depending on the context.