Key Highlights Class #7 (10/28/06)

Paraphrase, Listen and Ask Questions
The groups of three felt like a group negotiation except with a referee - the mediator - in the middle. During the first round, the mediator tried talking to both sides separately regarding the dry cleaning/damages dispute and asked leading questions which suggested certain solutions to the problem. Ultimately the owner of the dry cleaner agreed to pay a small amount and offered free dry cleaning going forward. When I was the mediator in the role-play, the hardest thing to do was to not suggest solutions but simply ask probing questions to both parties. Jumping into the role play was hard for the mediator because the opponents had their own way of framing the disagreement. The mediator had to take control of the situation and find out what was going on in the dispute in an unbiased manner. I found it interesting and a little surprising how little the mediator actually knows about the situation before starting the meeting. In addition to being neutral, the Mediator is responsible for setting the Ground Rules in terms of not interrupting and the goals of the meeting (i.e, to find an agreement). The Mediator’s biggest challenge was in asking the right questions and trying to discover as much information as possible. By asking each party for their point of view and practicing active listening by summarizing both sides, the Mediator should focus on the important facts to facilitate an agreement.

Techniques
Because the opponents were adversarial during the role plan, the Mediator decided to pull us separately out of the room for a private one on one conversation pretty soon after the conversation began. Overall, the Mediator should ask each party for their point of view and practice active listening by summarizing both sides of the story. As a Mediator, it is most important not to take sides and use non-threatening language to encourage active participation by both parties.