Mediation is the process of settling disputes between two or more individuals or parties with the aim of coming to a settlement that is acceptable to all the parties. The procedure generally involves a third party or a mediator who remains neutral who assists all the concerned individuals to come to a mutual agreement. As a part of the mediating process, the mediator may suggest an idea that may seem to be fair and reasonable by the differing parties.

Mediation is different from standard, ordinary negotiation; it involves certain structural dynamics which is missing from the latter. A mediator has to have good people skills, be open minded, a good listener, be flexible, understand differing opinions and subtleties of communication even when things are not always very apparent, have understanding of the issue at hand along with the ability to place it in varying psychological as well as legal contexts as required.

The mediators apply different techniques in order to open or improve communication between two conflicted parties while assisting them to reach an understanding. The associated parties are generally not under any obligation to accept the mediator’s viewpoints, but this maybe so in certain cases when according to a pre-signed agreement the involved parties are bound to accept the settlement drawn by the mediator.

Domains of mediation

There are various types of scenarios where a mediator may be called upon to settle a dispute. Professional mediators are known to solve a wide range of problems such as legal, commercial, workplace, diplomatic, community, peers and family matters. Each individual sector of mediation differ slightly from the others in terms of requirements, and as a result the mediator required for a particular sector has to have specialized skills that enable the mediator to handle special challenges associated with that section. For example, the challenges which a mediator of family affairs will face will be different than the ones faced by a mediator dealing with workplace issues. This makes it important for the mediator go through specialized training meant for a definite domain that will enable him or her to effectively deal with that domain. The various challenges of the different domains along with how the mediators can help in those regards have been briefly discussed below.

Family Mediation: Mediation in family matters primarily deals with legal issues such as divorce or separation as well as different types of family problems like disputes between parents and children; disagreements between family members as how to take care of the elderly or incurably ill relatives; concerns about grandparents and their connection with grandchildren; or homelessness caused by family problems. The concepts of how family assets can be distributed or how financial support can be arranged to benefit the family members also fall within the scope of family mediation. The mediator has to provide information as to the legal rights of the individual family members and help them to come to an understanding and agreement that will benefit both parties.

Peer Mediation: Peer mediation aims at settling disputes that are faced by two or more people within groups of friends. This type of mediation mainly centers on peers of the same age group within schools or colleges. The types of problems that the mediator has to resolve include relationship difficulties and harassments, issues like stealing and cheating, cultural and racial problems, cases of vandalism, social media problems, classroom disputes, bullying, group fights and assaults.

Workplace Mediation: Workplace mediation deals with disputes that occur within a business firm. Business disputes once being handled by the courts will take a lot to resolve and will involve lots of trial costs and loss of business profits for having to pay large settlement amounts. As majority of the business firms are not ready to go through the high level of financial turmoil that such a court case can bring, the business parties would want to settle for a mediation that would help their causes. Workplace mediation not only helps to save on profits and operations, it also helps a business firm to protect their goodwill in the market.

Commercial Mediation: Commercial mediation is very similar to workplace mediation in that it also deals with the settlement of disputes within business and financial sectors; the main difference is that while workplace mediation mostly deals with the disputes that a business firm has with customers or within the business firm itself, commercial mediation handles the relationships that one business firm has with other business firms who are often clients.

Techniques of mediation

While mediating between two conflicting sides, the mediator can handle the case in such a way that much deeper issues regarding a certain dispute can come to the surface; on the other hand he or she may even focus on the main outcome. However it is always important to remember that in a dispute overseen by a mediator, the final outcome depends totally on the disputing parties and it is only up to them if they can actually settle on a mutually agreed decision. Based on the area of focus and how the mediation sessions are handled, mediation can be of three different types.

Evaluative Mediation: This type of mediation is similar to the old practices of trial and arbitration. The mediator studies the case as present by both the parties and considers them from the judge’s perspective. Then the mediator expresses his or her views as to how the issue can be resolved. The final outcome of the mediation is going to depend on the two concerned parties.

Facilitative Mediation: Facilitative mediation is focused mainly on arriving at a mutual understanding based on the consent of both the parties instead of what is being said in the law books.

Transformative Mediation: Transformative mediation techniques aim to transform the very essence of a certain dispute. A transformative mediator acts like a counselor and focuses on much deeper issues that are causing a certain dispute and tries to deal with them. This helps the mediator to arrive to a more concrete decision which brings true peace and contentment between two parties.

A gifted mediator often tries to combine two or more of these above discussed approaches while trying to settle disputes.

Mediation Training Courses and Programs

There are a number of reputed institutions all across the globe that train students on the various necessary skills and techniques of mediation. Students can also specialize on a particular field and choose to handle specific types of clients that deal with family issues or problems among peers. These institutions offer intensive courses and programs that are tailor-made to meet the needs of modern day legal requirements.

Online mediation training

A number of institutions provide online mediation classes for far away students. Information on the course curriculum as well as examinations is available online and students can also appear for online tests. The students can also view their evaluation results online. In some cases, the courses offered require no fees and are completely free.

Mediation training institutions

Here is a list of some of the popular institutions that offer courses on mediation skills.

• Mediation Training Group Inc.
• Mediation Training Institute International
• Advanced Mediation Training
• Mediation Training San Francisco