Mediator Heuristics Vs Mediator Toolbox of Skills

For beginner mediators, practicing the so-called mediators ‘toolbox of skills’ are a good way of making the mental shift in thinking needed to become a practicing mediator.

On becoming a practicing mediator, it requires a more interactive way of engaging with the parties in the here and now of the session. This is where the more mechanical toolbox approach gives way to the fluid and interactive set of mediator heuristics.

This is our list of 15 mediator heuristics:

1. Stay totally in the moment.
2. Defer persuasion.
3. Defer solutions.
4. When in doubt use silence.
5. Time is the mediator’s friend (Barbara Wilson).
6. Keep going even when all things feel lost and hopeless.
7. Don’t give up on the parties. Always believe they can get there. They will notice.
8. When blocked look for an adjacent possible step (Stuart Kauffman, The Santa Fe Institute).
9. Be like a tight rope walker, just focus on the next step (Angela Merkel).
10. Mediate with soft eyes (The Bhagavad-Gita – The Authentic Swing, Steven Pressfield).
11. Look for connecting interests (Fisher and Ury – Getting to Yes).
12. Remain human, love the parties (John Haynes).
13. Probe, sense and respond – The Complex Quadrant (Dave Snowden -The Cynefin Framework).
14. Map the present and move forward in the general direction of where you would like to go rather than pick an outcome and work to close the gap.
15. Keep possible outcomes oblique (John Kay, Obliquity theory- The science of muddling through).

This list was part of a presentation that Margaret Ross and Greg Rooney gave at the Australian National Mediation Conference held in Wellington New Zealand on 6 September 2023 titled “To be or not to be human. That is the question for mediators” at Page 10 NMC-2023-Final-.pdf.

                       

Greg Rooney

Greg Rooney has been a practising mediator in Australia since 1991. He sold his legal practice in 1996 to practice fulltime as a mediator. Greg has mediated more than 1,500 disputes in a diverse range of conflicts including multi-party disputes involving government institutions, commercial and industrial disputes, agricultural disputes, franchise… MORE >

                       

Margaret Ross

Margaret Ross is a barrister and mediator in Adelaide Australia, where she has been a mediator for 33 years. She has mediated more than 1,200 disputes since 1990. She specialises in Family Law, Mediation and Dispute Management in a wide area of disputes. Margaret has conducted dispute resolution and mediation… MORE >