IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING
The ability to effectively manage conflict may well be considered one of the basic characteristics of the truly educated person. Training in mediation is an important subset of this ability.
There is evidence that such training may profitably begin as early as the elementary school years. Ironically, although there is an extensive cottage industry in mediation skills training, much of it is geared to preparing contractual mediators to handle formalized conflict of the kind that typically ends up in court. Relatively speaking, training in generic mediation skills for the nonspecialist has been left to languish. This is doubly unfortunate, since conflict in the workplace, school, home, and community is ubiquitous and would often respond well to mediation—if only there were a mediator prepared to handle it! Several implications for training the nonspecialist in mediation may be derived from the material presented in this chapter.Train Leadership
The most effective way to multiply the benefits of mediation training is to offer the training first and foremost to the leaders of a group or organization. Leaders who understand the mediation process can make effective and meaningful referrals to mediation within the organization, can stimulate others within the organization to acquire and use such training, and are likely to turn to mediation in the event that serious conflict arises. In addition, leaders often need the skills of mediation as much as others in an organization or group, if not more, because the power and authority that leaders possess often leads them away from collaborative modes of influence for resolving their differences with others. Mediation training can, in theory, reduce this tendency. In sum, organizations wishing to convey to the rank and file their serious commitment to collaborative conflict management can send no clearer message than to train their leaders.
Teach a Hierarchy of Mediation Concepts and Skills
We are still far from a complete understanding of which mediator activities and styles are most appropriate under which conditions of conflict, but for training purposes it is obviously useful to distinguish between two broad classes of intervention: foundational and higher-order activities. Foundational activities are the reflexive and contextual interventions by which mediators establish rapport and provide a meaningful negotiating structure within a collaborative (rather than adversarial) set of norms. Skill in active listening and the ability to gather information about the dispute and the parties’ perspectives on it are the most salient foundational activities. Foundational activities also rest on mastery of certain basic concepts, such as the importance of distinguishing interests from positions and the primacy of situational forces rather than personality attributes in fostering destructive conflict. In problem-solving models, the higher-order activities are substantive and assertive behaviors by which mediators interject themselves forcefully into a conflict and play an active role in the problem-solving process, including imparting strategic direction to negotiations and shaping the substantive proposals.
Although the more vigorous higher-order activities are often necessary in an intensely polarized dispute, the foundational skills and concepts are often sufficient to produce a collaborative orientation in the low- to moderate-intensity conflict that permeates organizational and group life. They also have broad general utility for trainees, quite apart from their usefulness in mediation. For these reasons, the foundational skills should be emphasized in mediation training programs where training time is limited, as is especially likely if the trainees are organizational or community leaders.
Create a Supportive Environment for Reflective Learning
Learning the skills of mediation, including the foundational skills, requires direct practice and active learning through role play and simulation.
These are often done to greatest collective profit in a fishbowl setting, where the entire group can share the same experience and compare ideas and reactions. Practicing skills in front of others also duplicates some of the tension associated with actual practice; for this reason it is often highly valued by trainees for its verisimilitude. However, such a context also stirs anxiety and evaluation apprehension, which can be inimical to skill development and inhibit a reflective stance toward the learning experience. There are many ways to conduct experiential learning to produce a supportive and reflective learning environment. A four-stage schema for debriefing mediation role play has proved useful in this regard, and I describe it here for illustrative purposes.Reflective debriefing of a role play begins with a “ventilation” stage, during which the person who has been the mediator is encouraged to describe immediate feelings and impressions associated with the role play. The trainee is instructed to emphasize spontaneity (“here and now” feelings) and to deemphasize cerebral analysis. It is meant partly to be cathartic and partly to begin the reflective process. The other trainees are encouraged to respond to the target person by exercising empathic listening skills; they are also instructed to avoid critical evaluation or advice giving.
There then follows a stage of supportive feedback, during which members of the training group are asked to praise the mediator for things that were done well during the role play, with the injunction to be as specific and concrete in their remarks as possible (not “You were calm” but “When one of the parties challenged your lack of experience as a mediator, you answered nondefensively and reasonably”).
Once all supportive feedback has been given, a third, reflective stage begins. The target person is instructed to describe any source of puzzlement, frustration, or surprise that occurred during the role play. Once again, the other trainees are required to respond in an empathic, nonevaluative manner. They are also encouraged to ask questions that may help clarify the underlying issues raised, and to offer suggestions to the mediator role player on strategies for handling them.
A final, implementation, stage follows, with a return to the role play and an attempt to make use of any lessons learned from the reflective debriefing. Throughout the process, the trainer (1) ensures that trainees adhere to the debriefing procedures and (2) models appropriate behavior and attitude.