Mediation is a fully facilitated, solution-oriented, constructive negotiation processes, managed by a skilled, neutral Mediator. It’s the most commonly used dispute resolution process in Australia, with many thousands of cases resolved each year.
The Mediator’s goal is to guide the parties to a solution they have developed and agreed for themselves – one that addresses both the presenting issues and its underlying causes. In the process the Mediator also tries to heal wounds and strengthen damaged relationships by rebuilding their levels of mutual respect and trust.
A Mediator can make decisions about the process he’s been engaged to manage, but has no power to make any decisions about the issues in dispute, nor may he provide expert opinion on the merits, or otherwise, of anybody’s position or arguments.
These restrictions notwithstanding, a skilful mediator is fully entitled to roll up his sleeves and get involved in guiding the party’s thoughts and feelings, provided that’s part of his engagement mandate (it’s always part of our mandate!).
The main challenges for a mediator are to:
- Gain the party’s trust in himself and his process.
- Inject some hope of reaching an acceptable resolution into the proceedings.
- Develop and maintain momentum in both communications and positive thought processes.
- Help the parties to contextualise and reality check their situation and their dispute.
- Maintain and communicate a clear focus on desired outcomes, and guide parties there.
- Capture points of agreement as they arise and join them together (eventually) to form an agreement.
- Obtain all party’s commitment and signoff to the final written agreement.
Our mediators can generally resolve disputes for less than 10% of the time and costs that would be incurred through conventional litigation. In practice, this means that a relatively minor litigation matter that would take at least 2 years to run through the courts, at a cost of not less than $200,000 per party, will be resolved within 2 months for less than $20,000, per party (ie: including legal fees!). The reduced collateral damage and personal stress is, of course, priceless!
When parties participate voluntarily in mediations, global statistics indicate that around 80% of disputes are resolved by agreement. Our own success rate has been well over 90% for many years, for commercial and private mediations. Complex family business conflicts have a significantly lower success rate.
Our Mediation Services are privately commissioned. We guarantee excellent attention and quick results. Most disputes can be resolved within weeks. Even complex disputes only take a few months.
If you need the services of a Mediator, please call, or contact: The Solutionist Group.