What is Mediation?
You certainly know how much conflicts can drain your energy.
In a legal procedure, there may perhaps be a winner, but frustrated feelings remain, to say the least; the real core or motive of the conflict issue has never been addressed: the feelings or thoughts of both parties even less.
Both parties spend an enormous amount of money, energy, and time in order to obtain a certain right or amount of monetary compensations through lengthy and thus costly court sessions. The only biggest winner is the lawyer, cutting human relations or communication coldly with an iron sword and earning his/her fee for every extra legal action. Legal procedures may be the only resort in certain cases where it concerns a real criminal act.
But in the case of e.g. family or business conflicts, mediation should be first attempted to reach a more effective solution.
Mediation or conflict resolution tries to bring the parties together.
It is not a legal process but rather a communicative process;
It requires special techniques, “Fingerspitzengefuehl” and skills to let communication flow again and create good will. It requires asking the right questions; going from points of view back to motives. The art is to create an atmosphere where people do not mind going deeper into the issues and listen to eachother, finding understanding and enabling a solution or even new kind of revived cooperation.
My experience is that in such an atmosphere people can become astoundingly creative; finding a new way of working together