One skill the Civil and Commercial Mediation Course will bring into your life
Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution method where parties agree to resolve their dispute with the help of an impartial third person (mediator). A mediator has authority to guide the process but has no authority to have a determining effect on the content or resolution of the dispute. This process involves identifying the conflicting issues, solution proposals and evaluation of alternatives with an aim to reach an agreement. Both parties voluntarily decide to take part in mediation and a mediator’s role is to facilitate communication between them. In other words, it is not the mediation that settles the dispute but rather the facilitation of the process with parties communicating and understanding each other.
A recognised, high-quality Civil and Commercial Mediation Course, like Emma’s one at Essential Mediation Solutions, will give you skills not only for your professional life, but even assist you to develop your personal communication skills.
Communicating with the parties
One of the many things the Civil and Commercial Mediation course has taught me is the importance of being attentive. A very valuable skill a mediator can have, Emma teaches, is to be a good listener. Listening is invaluable in many ways such as to receive all the necessary information, show both parties that their problem is finally being understood. Being attentive also helps a mediator to be an active listener and to be more empathetic. This can be crucial as it enables parties to feel that the mediator understands how they feel that the mediator cares about them and will not judge them. This may help them to be more communicative, be more comfortable to open up and be honest about it. Parties may face disputes where they may experience high emotions situation and a mediator may be the first person who is genuinely listening to the parties. However, all these valuable skills should be balanced in a way that the mediator does not come across as taking sides and stays impartial throughout. Both parties should be given equal opportunities to express themselves, should receive equal amount of time and attention.
As much as training participants on the importance of verbal communication, Emma has also emphasised the importance of non-verbal communication throughout the course. The atmosphere and the tone a mediator sets both play a role in the success of a mediation session. The non-verbal communication enables a mediator to control the process by observing the body language such as playing with hair or signs of emotions such as anxiety, discomfort etc. A mediator should evaluate these and potentially respond back in a non-verbal way as this may sometimes be more beneficial.
I would like to think that my communication skills with people have never been poor. However, this course gave me such valuable skills that will benefit my professional life as well as personal. Stopping and thinking on the power of listening, understanding and ways of responding to a dispute with a view to solving it is powerful. In the total 40 challenging hours of this course, this one skill is only one of the many a participant will learn.
