Standing in the breach

10/1/2013

I took part in an excellent mediation workshop this week run by Karen Bailey, a talented and experienced coach, mediator and trainer in this field (http://www.karenbaileymediation.com/).

I found it interesting to explore different models and approaches ranging from arbitration and advocacy through to non-directive facilitation. It resonated for me professionally because, as an OD practitioner, I’m often invited to coach others on conflict resolution, to do teambuilding where unresolved conflict is a factor affecting team morale and performance, or to act as a third party helping others (e.g. line managers and staff, or peers) to address and resolve stuck-ness or tensions between them.

It also resonates for me spiritually because the notion of mediation is at the heart of my Christian beliefs. The biblical characterisation of Jesus Christ as mediator between God and humanity is the cornerstone of Christian theology, a role that Christians too are called to emulate and follow as peace-builders in the world.

The model we explored and practised emphasised the importance of creating a semi-structured space for parties to listen to each other. If they can genuinely hear each other, there is scope for establishing empathy and reaching shared solutions. This involves the willingness of all parties to engage in open, direct and…potentially scary…dialogue. The mediator speaks to this fear dynamic explicitly: ‘This is going to feel very uncomfortable, but we’re here because we believe the outcome will be worth it.’

If the mediator and participants can learn to manage their own anxiety by facing it head on, they may also feel able to lower their defences and hear each other. We looked at four conditions that enable this type of mediation to be successful: the mediator is impartial; the mediation is confidential; participation is voluntary; outcomes are self-determined. These condidtions provide a basis for establishing clarity and for contracting with oneself, participants and sponsors beforehand.

Karen explains why these same conditions can sometimes make it difficult for internal HR (or OD) practitioners to fulfil this role within their own organisation or business partnering arena effectively. (For further comment on this issue, see: http://www.karenbaileymediation.com/transforming-hr-practitioners-into-mediators/). We also looked at four aspects of participant experience and perspective that provide a content-orientated focus for the mediation: each participant’s Story; each participant’s felt Impacts; each participant’s Needs; each participant’s Goals (making the acronym SING).

The mediator meets with each participant to tease out these aspects beforehand. The participant’s story is his or her own subjective experience of the situation; impacts are what he/she is feeling emotionally; needs are unfulfilled desires or challenged values; goals are the outcomes each person hopes for. ‘What’s going on for me’, ‘How this is impacting me’ and ‘Why this is important to me’.

At the start of the session with all parties in the room, the mediator reiterates the process and invites the participants to (a) be honest and direct with each other and (b) listen and show respect to each other. The mediator may invite each party to make an opening statement and then allow the conversation to free-flow.

The tricky part I found as mediator-in-practice was when to intervene and not to intervene, how to intervene in such a way that facilitates rather than interferes with the process, how to manage my own anxieties if ferocious conflict emerges, if one party appears bullied or if the conflict became directed at me. Karen offered some useful ideas…simple in principle, harder to do in practice!

The mediator can summarise, reflect back…’This is what I’m hearing…’, ‘Sounds like…’, enabling the participants to feel heard before moving on. The mediator can call for a break, allowing mediator and participants to step back, take time out if they need to cool down or reflect before re-engaging.

The mediator can co-facilitate with another mediator, creating the benefit of two perspectives, insights and interventions, especially valuable if one of the mediators feels hooked, emotionally destabilised or disorientated by something in the conversation and needs to detach in order to re-engage. The real challenge, opportunity and skill lies in enabling the participants to establish and maintain high quality contact with each other, even if that contact feels loaded with intense emotion.

It’s a process that involves faith, faith that if the participants will find a way to hear and connect with each other, that they may feel empathy and will move towards finding their own solutions. It also demands that the mediator be fully present in the room, fully in role and fully in contact with participants. The session ends with participants discussing and agreeing their own way forward. This kind of mediation clearly demands patience and courage but the benefits can be transformative.

25 Comments

leila

11/1/2013 07:48:39 am

Great ideas. It sound like a good combination of active listening and emotional intelligence.

Nick Wright

11/1/2013 10:04:10 am

Hi Leila and thanks for the note. Yes, one of the things that strikes me about this kind of approach to mediation is that it demands active listening and EI from the mediator and seeks to develop these same qualities and capabilities in the participant-clients too. With best wishes. Nick

11/1/2013 11:58:56 am

yes, Nick. it is essential for all parties involved. well put. warmly. leila

Karen Bailey link

12/1/2013 01:45:02 pm

To be appreciated

We all need to feel appreciated. Receiving words of appreciation makes us feel warm, and somehow it gives our values and value systems a positive stokes.

Conversely when we don’t receive appreciation it has the potential to trigger a spiral – a spiral of downward thought processes.

Why didn’t my boss say thank you.
I did more than what he asked of me
Maybe it wasn’t good enough
Cheek
I worked day and night on that piece of work
See if I care
Well I wont work so hard next time….

From this type of thought process emerges slightly different behaviours, maybe a little standoffish, a little subdued. And the boss wonders

She seems a little upset
I’d like to talk to her about the work
No idea why she is being so quiet
Best let her have some space

And so the spiral starts a life of its own. So often in mediation the real crux of a conflict is a misunderstanding of intention, a missed thank you, or a few words that say I really appreciated that.

I was recently reminded how warming being appreciated can be. I delivered a workshop for OD and HR practitioners at a charitable organisation. The delegates were very receptive and open to the challenge of thinking differently and exploring the skills and tools of mediation. The receptiveness was rewarding enough. When the Head of OD wrote a blog about how much he had valued the workshop, and circulated this – I felt a warm glow.

When we are fortunate to experience such a glow it helps us to tap into an energy that has a vitality, an expressive creative energy that stops ‘spirals’ and blocks ‘negative thought processes’ and instead touches our passion, our passion to do things, our passion to change things our passion to make things happen.

And so I’d like to say to Nick ‘thank you’ for your thoughtfulness for your very kind blog, and enabling me to feel a positive expressive creative energy.

13/1/2013 10:27:09 am

Hi Karen and thanks for sharing such inspiring reflections. Your comments sparked lots of thoughts for me. Firstly, your mention of strokes reminded me of TA, especially Harris' 'I’m OK-You’re OK' and Berne's 'Games People Play'.

Games are often a way of manipulating a person or situation to gain positive strokes and mediation could be a way of exposing games and finding more open, direct and constructive ways of relating.

Secondly, I have tended to think of mediation in the context of serious conflict situations whereas it could be equally valuable in more low-key situations as you describe which are, perhaps, more about misunderstanding, loss of 'contact' (Gestalt) or feeling stuck.

I liked your reflections on warmth of appreciation and tapping into positive energy and passion too, signalling that mediation is more than a simple cognitive-behavioural process. With best wishes. Nick

Christopher Wacyk C.Psychol C.Sci AFBPsS

16/1/2013 04:16:56 am

Interesting. I am an Accredited Mediator and I have been very surprised to find that there are so few Psychologists in the UK, who are involved in this area. In Australia Psychologists have been involved in mediation since the 1970's. The skills used in mediation are very similar to those in coaching, particularly group coaching. What are people's thoughts?

16/1/2013 12:10:06 pm

Hi Christopher and thanks for the comments. Do you have any ideas why so few psychologists in the UK are involved in mediation? With best wishes. Nick

17/1/2013 10:32:32 am

Hi Christopher

I had been mediating for many years - I recently completed a postgraduate diploma in coaching psychology - I know this has enabled me to be a much more effective mediator.

I know of a number of Psychologist who are involved in mediation in this country. They are mostly organisational psychologists - rather than clinical psychologists.

But yes a very interesting question. My sense is that the psychology field is relatively closed in this country and so psychologists tend to be a highly specialised and highly sought after commodity - therefore no real need to diversify. Only my sense.

Karen

23/1/2013 04:05:13 am

Simply because as a profession Psychology is 'slow off the mark' and does not have much status in the UK, compared to the Law. Also there are no BPS Divisions or postgraduate study degrees in Mediation Psychology. There are for instance far more Psychotherapists who have recognised Mediation, as an area for legitimate pursuit. Can't help thinking that this is an area where Counselling, Coaching and Occupational Psychologists, could add real value. Interested in your thoughts. Take care Christopher

Kisane Prutton

25/1/2013 01:44:39 am

My belief as to why occupational psychologists have a low profile in mediation is due to the fact that mediation sits at the litigious end of the organisational spectrum. Not being qualified in employment law means OPs tend to shy away from grievances and other contentious issues that fall under the shadow of the law. Workplace mediation is an area populated by HR practitioners; similarly employment mediation is populated by employment lawyers. We OPs have the skills, but probably lack both the confidence and the contacts. There is also another issue - there are more trained mediators than there are mediations. In other words, the market place is saturated by providers. There is talk in the industry about educating end users about the benefits of mediation; in order to increase demand. This has yet to occur.

Kieran Duignan

25/1/2013 04:56:10 am

To some extent, whether an occ psych practices mediation depends on his/her sphere of work and style.

As a chartered HR and chartered OSH practitioner as well as a chartered/registered occ psych, qualifed ergonomist, counsellor and expert witness, interventions I conduct in organisations that are formally labelled safety psychology more often than not entail mediation and specialist elements of employment law as much as technical knowhow. For me, to call myself a mediator would be unduly restrictive. Some other safety psychologists behave likewise

Dr Franciszka Magdalena PhD;MSc;MSc;BScHons

25/1/2013 10:48:57 am

Hi Christopher and Nick, thanks for sharing this conversation. Its good to get a context in terms of the geographical location as to the factors that shape our professional and subjective identity and experience as psychologists. I've grappled throughout my career as a chartered and registered psychologist in the UK, to find legitimacy for my knowledge and practice. I feel we are hindered by our history. I agree with you Christopher that Counselling, Coaching and Occupational Psychologists here in the UK could add real value to mediation as a practice. However, our history as an emergent profession in the UK appears to have been hindered by the structure of the BPS into those Divisions, and what they dont hold in common. (For example, Clinical Psychology is driven by an NHS agenda; Occupational Psychology by a psychometric agenda; Coaching Psychology has been rejected Divisional status - yet it holds the promise for dialogue between us - the Special Group has more members than any single Division. We need to re-structure the quality of our relationships (or lack thereof) . We've been held to randsom for so long by-who-knows what and perhaps with the new government regulation of HPC, the BPS has a chance to encourage the innovation it takes to break free...

26/1/2013 06:16:10 am

Perhaps 'stewardship' even more than 'mediation' is the need and area of opportunity for which many coaching and occupatonal psychologists are distinctively fit but insufficiently recognised or, dare one say it, motivated??

While the notion of a 'breach' as a pivotal feature of mediation can be culturally appropriate, I'm inclined to suspect that its cumulative effect may be to reinforce forces that generate breaches.

More than a decade of participation in organisational behaviour associated with antecedents as well as consequence of 'breaches' that contribute to if not actually 'cause' injuries, illnesses, waste, damage and some fatalities, one single feature stands out in what I directly observe and more commonly read about antecedents of 'breachers' of this kind.

What's missing is the elementary and simple gathering, analysis and evaluation of relevant statistical data designed to prevent 'breaches', in the same manner that such data are consistently used to address customer behaviour and needs.

Instead of, or in addition to, mediation, perhaps psychologists can conribute to foresetalling avoidable 'breaches' through mindful use of relevant statistical data. The proposal is informed by Deming's creaftive and crafty recognition of how such information grounds people in 'the here, now, yesterday and tommorrow' and even more in the possibilities of replacing 'mediation' by practices of 'stewardship'.

Where statistically-informed 'stewardship' supports practices of managers in roles that colour effective behiavour - including HR, Facilities and safety management' it may go a long way to cost-effectively eradicate sources of breaches, due to omission and 'latent errors'.

28/1/2013 04:07:42 am

Yes - in that evidence-based practice needs to be integrated within the Methodology that comprises Psychology comprises 'divisions' that encompass contexts described as 'Organsiational', 'Coaching', 'Counselling', 'Occupational', 'Educational', 'Clinical', 'Health' etc - what seems to be missing is a Psychology of Qualtiative Statistics! ... Had Cyril Burt not been appointed by Oxford University, psychology would have been a greater gift to human kind than it currently is. Had William Stephenson not been by-passed by Oxford University Psychology would now be the Scientific Study of Subjectivity and all of us psychologists would find it much easier to work together in service of a common stewardship.

29/1/2013 05:14:21 am

Yes, Franciszka: Stephenson's Q methodology can be a powerful method of encouraging reflective practitiioners rather than avoider/blamers.

I've developed a method of cultural analysis of 'safety/health stewardship' as the basis for CPD design using Q methodology.

A hard sell - even though it's the opposite of the legal bindweed that is the focus of hostility and frustration (and Fee for INTERVENTION BY HSE)

27/1/2013 01:16:10 pm

I mediate and I have a blend of professional backgrounds, all of which contribute to who I am as a mediator. I also train and assess would be mediators. It is also important to recognise that there is a continuum of the types of mediation a mediator may practice. The facilitative and transformational mediation require a lot of personal (inner) strength and presence, the ability to be non judgemental and allow the parties to genuinely solve their own problems. These skills must be inherent in the person rather than implicit in their professional background. These are the skills that in my opinion are needed for workplace mediation.

Ken Cloke, mediator, author, lawyer and psychologist - describes mediation as being the 'mongrel profession'.... that is, it is not the discipline from which you come to mediation that matters; more it is the person within any professional that mediates.

Best wishes
Karen

27/1/2013 01:31:33 pm

Hi Karen and thanks for the note. I like your emphasis on the significance of the person who mediates, beyond or at least alongside any professional background or skills he or she may deploy within the mediation process itself.

I have found your previous distinctions between different forms of mediation or mediation-related fields helpful, e.g. arbitration, advocacy, conflict coaching, non-directive facilitation. I wonder if the significance of person is more pronounced in the latter forms?

With best wishes. Nick

29/1/2013 11:31:12 am

Kieran... What makes Q Methodology such a hard sell - especially so in the field of Psychology and Therapy? ... I wonder if you would expand a bit please Kieran, in terms what you mean about 'fee for intervention)... more context please if poss...

29/1/2013 11:32:14 am

Actually, Magdalena I was referring to using is for CPD design with the tiny minority of safety professionals in the UK prepared to consider anything beyond the re-engineering of work environments or the social cognitive application known as 'behavioural safety' (itself the focus of intense hostility, and misunderstanding, by the TUC, as can be confirmed on the TUC website).

What makes Q methodology such a hard sell is what makes any reflexive intervention problematic: the possibility, even the likelihood,of personal responsibility for various kinds of errors - and dread of criminal legal liability.

Sorry for assuming the 'world' knows about the FEE for Intervention regulations introduced by the coalition government last October. After the government appointed investigator into the 'burden' of safety legislation (Prof Ragnar Loftstedt of King's college) reported that actually less than 2% was unduly burdensome, the government swung the pendulum about 120 and passed a law obliging any employer to pay £124 per hour of a HSE inspector's time if they failed an inspection.; details at www.hse.gov.uk.

Accordingly, the already fractious climate of safety management is (partly realistically) on edge

Since the HSE have powers to prosecute and do so only when their senior inspectors are confident of winning a prosecution, the domain is one in which the healing and energising potential of mindfulness is needed. Yet as the education and accreditation of the profession is steeped in legalese and engineering (rather than evaluating evidence as Loftstedt specifically endorsed), the mental detachment associated with skilful use of Q methodology tends to be sidestepped.

But not totally: some upcoming conscientious, open-to-experience and often temperamentally agreeable practitioners who engage with workers at risk are at times willing to experiment. My hunch is that, as Q is much, much, much more cost-effective than any other kind of psychological intervention in the safety domain, it's a matter of patiently dislodging the rock and moving it carefully from the tombstone.

30/1/2013 05:08:32 am

Magdalena, in commenting on the constructive challenge of using Q methodology in CPD interventions to do with Safety Stewardship, I should have added a couple of observations about thie context that moderates this particular challenge.

One is that use of a personality questionnaire earlier in the process of intervention with the safety professional offers him or her a way of looking at themselves and their psychological world in a way that the great majority have never experienced before. Odd as it may seem now that most corporates have incorporated psychometric assessment as routines, there are many professions and managerial cadres who are totally inexperienced in the positive learning these instrumetns make possible.

Where possible, I use the well-researched HEXACO personality inventory, as it adds the dimension of 'Honesty-humilty' to the 'Big Five'. More often than not, this cuts to the chase about authenticity at work and about the character of 'stewardship'. While I may be unusual in coining the expression, it is actually rooted in the contrast that Argyris made over 40 years ago between 'espoused values' and 'values-in-action'. So, the use of HEXACO can function as an 'interface' in converations about relationships and risk management at work, that emerge from the data on a survey of managerment opinions about 4 dimensions of stewardship in relation to work-related safety and health.

In that light, Q sorts are used to introduce the perspective that the survey feedack and the HEXACO profile can each be viewed from the different perspectives that Stephenson's methodology was designed to elicit.

In asserting that it's a 'hard sell', I'm referring to professional cultures where the norm is to talk in glorious generalities about 'safety culture' and 'uor values' without one single reference to emotions. Of anyone. As if work environments are made up of minds, artefacts and bodies 100% devoid of emotions.

This is far from a dystopian fantasy on my part. It was dramatised at a national conference on railway safety in 2011, where I fear my own presentation about resoluton of a four-year conflict between the Head of HR and Chief Medical Officer was heard with incredulity that any reference should be made in public to gentlemen's difficulties of this kind. After the Chairman of the national examining body for safety/health and former Chief Regulator of Railways spoke gloriously about organisational culture and the particular importance of mental health and occupational nursing. In response to a question about why he made no mention whatsoever of any emotions, he gulped, paused and said', 'Eh, I, eh, personally have difficulties with grief!'.

Where a leader in a profession and major national industry either eliminates any emotions from converations about workpalce culture or reduces them to 'grief', is it any wonder that Q methodology is a 'hard sell'?

While Stephenson might well have illuminated the issues m terms of 'play', Wendy Stainton-Roger's 1991 Q methodological account of health and illness also throws light on the ironies at work.

30/1/2013 05:09:39 am

Kieran, thanks. I feel so heartened and amazed to at last find a 'mirror' and an 'exemplar' of my own experience in facilitating and researching in-action, the types of 'organisational dynamics' that you describe above. Kieran and maybe others who are interested in the power of 'meditation' practice might be interested to know that what you describe was the subject of my (University Business School) PhD, entiteled 'Leadership by Subjectives, an emergent communications strategy for Personal and Organisational Transformation'... Basically it was about Q Methodology as an 'scientific movement' which lends itself to enabling the 'Business' of Organisational Behaviour to integrate knowledge from the discipline of Counselling Psychology into Leadership and Management Practice by untilising Drucker's 'Management by Objectives'. I'd love to talk more specifically around this 'solution'... I guess the next stage will be to start a new thread (?) ... which I undertake to do very soon! (... I don't even have a web-site) and I've only just ventureed into Linked-In! ... I'm discovering that Technology can Rock!!!

Hugh O'Donovan

30/1/2013 05:10:46 am

Most interesting conversation. Hope all well Kieran. Good to see you as positively energised as always. Recently sat at my daughters graduation (civil engineer) and listened to the graduation speech from the chairman of our Electricy Board here in Ireland. He described the three problems we generally face in the work place, namely problems, tasks and people. He mentioned that most educational systems prepare people for the first two, but derailment generally occurs around an inability to engage people in an emotionally intelligent way. As an addition to the conversation have a look at David Sharpley's efforts in this respect (Pario Executive) at http://www.pario-innovations.com/ I find the metric very useful in my general coaching work in organisational settings. Emotions are good.

30/1/2013 05:11:36 am

Friendly wave back, Hugh

Yep, Magdalena, glad to pursue this line of dialogue.

For me, Q sort is like my late-life enjoyment of swimming: I found them difficult to get the hang of but once one gets moving, it's surprising how much can be done, sometimes in the most unlikeliest of places :-)

30/1/2013 11:25:02 am

Hi Hugh and thanks for the link to the Pario Innovations site. Looks interesting. With best wishes. Nick

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