Workplace Mediation has so arrived. I mean, it’s here now, right, so let’s just use it people. Forget, like, courts, investigation blah, blah. They’re history, get over it, join the real world. Wake up and smell the moccachino.

As Siobhan Sharpe might say in the BBC television comedy series, ‘W1A’.

The debate about whether or not to use mediation in the workplace is over and it’s now moving mainstream into policies, practices and procedures in all employments.

Mediation is not just a great way to resolve employee relations problems and improve working relationships – it’s also a major organisation development intervention and a catalyst for leadership development.

Improving culture through strategic adoption of mediation has proved beneficial for numerous organisations from the US Postal Service to British American Tobacco. It signals a deliberate move away from an adversarial culture to a collaborative culture and, ultimately, from a blame culture to a resolution culture. It’s about everything the organisation does with employees, suppliers, customers and partners.

Mediation is a practical expression of espoused organisational values. Far too many companies suffer from a Values Gap – the difference between what we say we do and what we actually do. Picture the company which claims to value collaboration and fairness, while in practice suing and dismissing at the drop of a hat. Introducing a mediation programme will allow this gap to be bridged.

Training in skills and techniques of mediation carries tremendous benefits, whether or not the goal is to practise as a mediator. It is especially useful for those in leadership positions. Learning outcomes include improved active listening, better attention and concentration, a willingness to see multiple perspectives, and a greater understanding of people’s needs and emotions at work.

A particular skill of benefit to leaders is being present in the moment to other people. We know the job of a manager is often a fragmented and diverse set of short term interactions. This can result in distraction, in thinking about the next item on the long list and consequently in being present only in body to others such as employees, customers, board members, and external agencies. Mediation training emphasizes and cultivates the need to be calm, to pay attention and to be aware of what is happening in the here and now.

Using framing and reframing is as much a crucial skill for those in leadership positions as it is for mediators. A core leadership task is to scout out the future and frame it in such a way that others will follow. Framing is not an easy skill to master and is rarely taught on standard management development programmes. But in mediation training it is essential, and while not the easiest skill to master, good reframing can have an enormous impact on bringing about change.

For more insight into this valuable skill see ‘Remarkable Reframing’. (http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/6257/).

Mediation provides better language tools and increased confidence which can be used to good effect in management tasks such as coaching, performance management, dealing with poor behaviour, and leading through change.

Time to accept the effectiveness of mediation and embrace the strategic features it offers.

Or as Siobhan Sharpe might say, “Are you upside with this ? Because it’s not an overstatement, it’s an uberstatement.”

Brendan Schutte is a workplace mediator, investigator, facilitator and trainer.

For more information see: www.brendanschutte.com

He is also an associate of ASM Mediation, London.

‍