Many cases involve “personality clashes” or different people styles. Mediation is a perfect process to enable parties to understand these differences and find more effective ways of working together. One such case involved a clash between two senior employees; there had been a change to the senior management structure including a new CEO having been recently appointed. One senior employee felt that his role and status had been diminished whilst the CEO felt that the changes made best use of skills and experience. The conflict between them was beginning to impact on their relationship and trust was breaking down. There was a real risk of loss of key expertise to the company if the conflict could not be resolved.
The mediator met with each party individually initially and then facilitated a joint meeting. During the mediation, it became clear that there were differing personal styles which contributed to the way the dispute had escalated. In addition there were “cultural” difference between them which was also impacting and causing misunderstandings.
In the joint meeting, the parties were able to clarify a number of misunderstandings and (whilst they did not entirely agree) were better able to understand the other’s viewpoint and perspective. The parties were able to work out an agreement about how to adapt their working practices and communication styles to ensure that they avoided further misunderstandings in the future and to restore trust between them. The mediation was followed with some individual coaching sessions which included consideration of each others conflict styles (using TKI assessments) leading to increased appreciation of the impact of different styles and responses to conflict situations and how to manage these.
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Alison quickly positioned herself as the ideal choice due to her obvious experience and pragmatism. Alison instantly picked up on the issues and clearly demonstrated her approach to dealing with our problem.
Despite a very tricky, emotive situation, the success of Alison’s work resulted in the retention of an individual who would otherwise have left the company and their successful reintegration into their department.
Through Alison’s subsequent training, our HR team is now equipped to instigate informal mediation processes to head off future issues before they start to fester.
I relied on Alison to deliver an empathetic service and desired result, and she 100% delivered on both aspects.
Senior HR Professional, Major Financial Services Company, South Wales | Senior HR Professional Major Financial Services Company
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Mediation can also be used very effectively where there is a team or group conflict. One recent case involved a well established and highly experienced team who were having difficulty with their current manager.
Many mediation cases involve allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination. Mediation allows these issues to be aired in a safe environment, enabling individuals to “deal with the elephant in the room”.