…And Why it Works!

Conflict is a necessarily uncertain space. This uncertainty provides access to open, to transform, and to resolve. Conflict feels risky. There is risk. That is why it makes so much sense to ask for help. As mediators we are right there with you at the heart of the conflict. We bring the skills needed to engage your conflict, and because we don’t have any decision making power we create the opportunity to alter the conflict dynamic, alter the how of your conflict.

Our power derives, in part, from what we do not attempt to do. We don’t tell you how things should be. We do forge empathic relationships with each of the parties to a conflict. We listen and validate concerns. We assist everyone to present their views and think through their options. By imposing no other agenda beyond this and by taking our cues from the parties themselves, we open up opportunities for real change, opportunities that would be closed by specific ideas about who is right and why – specific ideas that would engender defensiveness and mistrust.

This is the magic of mediation that animates all our clever and effective techniques. By omnipartially allying ourselves to the process, instead of to a side, we become the ally of everyone involved in a conflict. We’re on your side…and theirs – which is where you want us to be. We don’t bring the solution from outside of your conflict, we help you navigate the road through your conflict that gets you there – and keeps you there.